Faces Of Foreclosure

sell your own home!

admin — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:47:22 +0000

If your finances are crazy now and you’re down to the wire with a non-cooperative lender — which IS probably the case if you are trying for a loan modification – and if you have anything resembling equity in your home, you CAN sell your own home. Pulling out as much money as possible without having a significant percentage going to a real estate agent could save you enough to start over elsewhere.

I have nothing against most real estate agents, but times are rough now and you probably need to realize as much profit as possible so that you can keep your life going.

In 2003 when I wanted to sell my home in Fairfax, California, I called the local real estate agents for consultation. They said I wouldn’t get more than $535,000-$560,000 (out of which they would have taken their 5%, or whatever it was at the time). I said they didn’t know what they were talking about.

The location was splendid. The house — actually a 100-year old building that was once the town barn — was built of old-growth redwood. It was solid, it was a duplex, zoned multiple-use . . . meaning one could live upstairs and run a legal business downstairs or rent one unit out and live in the other. The area was high-traffic during the day, quiet at night and within walking of world-class restaurants, a theater, health food stores, bookshops, etc. It was also at the foot of Mt. Tamalpais with its superior mountain biking trails . . . actually Fairfax was the town where mountain bikes were first designed by Gary Fisher.

I ignored the realtors, priced the house at $625,000, put one ad on craigslist.org (the ads are free). I’m quite good at marketing: I figured the house would be perfect for a young entrepreneur who wanted to start a business, or mountain bikers — who happen to have some of the highest demographics in the U.S. That is how I positioned the craigslist.org ad.

As it turns out, there was a “for sale” sign board near my driveway. Oddly, the “for sale” sign wasn’t even mine — it was for a cute retail gift shop next door.

Within one week, I had two prospective buyers:

A young Scandanivan woman who wanted to own her own knitting studio. This would have been absolutely perfect for her; she could live up and run a knitting shop/studio downstairs.
Mountain Bikers! (See, I told you.) A wonderful couple from Scotland (who didn’t think 100 years was old for a building) loved the solidity of it, and knew the value of the location — actually, they were riding their mountain bikes down from Mt. Tam when the saw my neighbor’s “for sale” sign and stopped by to inquire.

With two weeks the mountain bikers bought the home. We paid $1,000 to a local real estate attorney who drew up sale papers. I discounted the sales price a bit because no real estate commissions had to be paid.

They are a wonderful couple. He happens to have some background in building and has done wonderful upgrades to the home. They have since had a child and are still living happily in that splendid town in that great old building; I still miss the duplex and wish I kept it.

Again, if you do have to move on, at least consider taking on the sale yourself. This might help:
Sell Your Own Home Guide. The link takes you to information about selling your own home. My apologies for the appearance of the presentation — however it works. It is something like a $39 eBook which gives you step-by-step instructions on how to sell your own home. If you decide to purchase that eBook and get stuck, please eMail me. I’ll be happy to guide you along at no cost.

Again, if you are in the middle of America’s current financial nightmares with today’s lenders (and their questionable ethics and sloppy business practices) and if you are thinking of selling, consider doing this yourself.

I hope this helps and my very best to you.

home sold while discussing modification

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 22:46:48 +0000

True story.

Homeowners received notices January 18 and 29 from Wachovia saying home loan is being considered for HAMP modification and stating it will not be sold as long as it is under review.

It was sold on January 18.

The home is owned by a mother/daughter; the mother is going through chemo for cancer right now.

I suggested to the young woman that she call the bank immediately. She did.

Wachovia representative said: “Oops, we’ve never seen anything like this happen before.”

Really? Liar. We see it all the time.

Through a local non-profit, we will file a complaint with HAMP on her behalf.

california’s real estate woes

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:23:04 +0000

The FBI is currently investigating crimes in California relating to illegal real estate transactions at foreclosure sales (refer to You Read it Here First, Maybe . . . which follows this entry.

Please include attorney Michael T. Pines in your list of questionable people; while he may not be involved in illegal sales yet, he has taken $5,000 from individuals who then lost their homes because he admittedly does NOT do his job; I’ve seen eMails wherein he said he “forgot” to file papers on time on one case.

In another, a man took out his retirement savings, paid $5,000 to Pines, who then apparently did NOTHING; the 78-year-old-man involved has just left his home of two decades and moved to another county with his cat.

Michael T. Pines advised a 74–year-old women to move back into her already-sold house. She did. Within hours, she was taken to jail in handcuffs which seriously bruised her arms. Michael T. Pines IS a white collar crook. He took $5,000 up front from dozens of families and did nothing! Also because of Michael Pines, one senior man recently left his home of 20+ years and, with his cat, moved to another county.

Pines and others of his ilk belong in jail.

you read it here first, maybe . . .

admin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 23:48:42 +0000

We started wondering about Triple Investments, Charter Properties in Sausalito, Scott Dixon, John Lundy, Joe Giraudo and Peter Kerman in November 2009.

While trying to save a friend’s home through the non-profit Marin Family Action and its workshop for Families Fighting Foreclosure, an associate delivered papers to Charter Properties offices in Sausalito (image right taken November 2009 by D.A. Levy).

Nothing was apparent in viewing their offices through walls of glass, but there seemed to be questionable behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the principals of Triple Investments, Charter Properties and Lecale Investments. We were questioning the sale of a prime piece of Tiburon property . . . and its sale price, which was staggeringly low.

We are digging to resurrect our notes from November 2009 and early 2010 to see if anything makes sense.

Our first post was Triple Investments, Sausalito on November 12, 2009 questioning the activities of various employees of these companies and of Lecale. These companies have just “hosted” the FBI in their offices at 2300 Bridgeway in Sausalito while the FBI burrowed through boxes of files.

Years ago, Lewis Long, an architect who worked for Desmond Muirhead Architects on a sinking barge in Sausalito, repeatedly said: “What goes around comes around,” which was his Southern black translation of “As ye reap so shall ye sow.”

And maybe that is coming about now for the companies mentioned in the top paragraph. Check www.MarinFamilyAction.com. They just might feret out Marin’s white collar thieves in this mortgage mess and have just filed a report with the District Attorney on one questionable group. “Insider trading” seems to have a lot as to who gets what.

From one of our earlier posts: “Want a duplex in Tiburon worth about $2.5 million for less than $1 million? Might be on the market soon due to lies and subterfuge. I’m serious. This all sounds nuts. Actually, it is nuts. But it is also true.”

On January 21, 2011, Carolyn Said of The San Francisco Chronicle reported:

Foreclosure auctions take place every weekday on the steps of courthouses throughout California . Now the FBI is investigating whether some real estate speculators are illegally rigging bids for these sales.

"Last week, the FBI conducted interviews and executed search warrants through the entire Bay Area as part of a long-term investigation of anti-competitive practices at trustee sales of foreclosed homes," said bureau spokeswoman Julie Sohn.

The probe is shaking up the tight-knit world of investors who bid at these auctions. The issue, sources say, is that some participants allegedly pay others to refrain from bidding on certain properties to keep their prices low.

Such bid-rigging violates the federal Sherman Antitrust Act and can carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. That maximum can be increased to twice the perpetrator’s gain or twice the victim’s loss.

"There have always been rumors of collusion at the courthouse steps," said Sean O’Toole of ForeclosureRadar.com, a Discovery Bay company that provides detailed information on properties sold at the auctions. At a typical auction, many investors clutch clipboards with printouts from his website.

"If you have a small crowd of guys that talk to each other every day, it’s natural for them to say, ‘Why are we bidding each other up? Let’s just buy this and work it out afterward.’ " O’Toole said. But when he speaks to real estate clubs and others, O’Toole said, "I am very clear. I say: ‘This is illegal. Don’t do it.’ "

Most properties revert to lenders at courthouse-step auctions, which are the final step in California’s foreclosure process, but about 20 percent get sold to outside investors.

More on this issue as it affects Marin, Sonoma, Napa counties . . . Faces of Foreclosure and here Families Fighting Foreclosure and here, as these companies have directly affected Marin County families.

The full article: SFGate.com

Trying for a modification? READ THIS!

admin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:20:25 +0000

If you are in California and if you are in a position to get a modification through Wells Fargo/Wachovia, please read the following.

Even if they do agree to work with you, they will likely start with a three-month forbearance period. A word of caution: Even when that starts, you will have to stay on top of them. They will screw up, probably by losing your paperwork. They will blame it on you and, as a result, they will try to deny a modification agreement, thus the importance of keeping copies and sending everything registered/certified.

As soon as you pay your second month forbearance payment, request a copy of the permanent modification offer; they will try to get out of it. You won’t believe it, but I’m not going to let you go into denial of how botched it all is. It is worse than you could possibly imagine. America is in fact in trouble financially and big banks such as Wells Fargo are part of the problem.

When you make your first payment of the forbearance, send a letter confirming that to Wells Fargo, along with a receipt, and copy bank regulatory agencies such as:

President Obama, WhiteHouse.gov; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20006
If you are in California: Governor Edmund G. Brown, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814
Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580
Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20552
Your local senators
Your local Better Business Bureau
Your local newspapers

My story: After a year of “negotiations,” Wells granted me a forbearance agreement in December 2009. I paid January/February/March and then it became totally screwed up for months.

If I did not keep accurate records I would not have my home. (That’s my binder on the right — 6 inches thick, 20 pounds, 22 pages of single space types notes indicating who said what to whom during this process.)

AFTER I started paying the forbearance agreement, it took from April 2010 to December 2010 for Wells Fargo to finalize the agreement; I have 10 pages of single-spaced notes during that period alone indicating glitches made by Wells! Excerpts from those notes follow. YOU will need to stay on top of it. The lenders have undertrained staff dealing with processes new to them that they don’t understand and don’t want to follow, and from executives who are larcenous on an international level.

I learned a new concept today from a investment research firm relating to this . . . the average American is in denial about the severity of our nation’s finances because it has never happened to us before. We just can’t believe it so we have tunnel vision.

A sample timeline starting with the 3-month forbearance period:

April 2010: Meeting w/Wells Fargo to discuss modification. Five times during that meeting they said they had missing paperwork. Because of that huge binder I had with me, I was able to pull out the appropriate paperwork and give them a copy to duplicate. In addition to showing them the paperwork, I was able to supply either a receipt from Kinko’s indicating when it was FAXed and received or a copy of my FedEx receipt indicating when it was received by Wells Fargo.
January-March, 2010: Forbearance payments made. They did NOT offer a permanent modification.
April 26, 2010: Attended meetings Wells Fargo had in Oakland and brow-beat them into signing a modification agreement with me.
May 2010: Modification Agreement received in the mail from Wells with incorrect amounts — interesting to note tha tthe modification agreement was dated April 22, thereby predating the April 26 meeting with them.
June 29, 2010: No statements received reflecting new terms.
July 19, 2010: Notices on front door saying Wells wants to talk with me.
July 19, 2010: Fed Ex delivered a package from Wells with NEW blank modification agreement. I called Wells to see what is going on. Was told that my loan is an “unconverted brokerage account,” and the modification had not been approved. Bottom line is that they did not want to honor the signed agreement.
July 23, 2010: Letter from Wells saying I was in default, that the modification agreement they signed was not “approved” on their end. I met with two attorneys who verified that the document I have will hold up in court, so I told Wells to back off.
July 24, 2010: My calls/issues could only be dealt with by one person — an “executive specialist” in the Office of the President. Works for me.
July 29, 2010: First payment under this agreement sent w/USPS tracking system. They received in July 31, but had not applied it as of August 1.
August 13, 2010: They tried telling me again that the modification was “moving through settlement right now.” I again reminded them that I have a modification agreement that will hold up in court.
Phone calls on August 31, September 6, 13, 17 to straighten them out.
October 9, 2010: 10:31 a.m., Melissa Slater called. Account is in “escrow analysis.” Seems they did not account for taxes and that is why there are discrepancies in the figures. They made a mistake (another one). Account is showing $2609.65 due instead of $2567.76 due. It is also showing that the October payment is still due – it is not.
November 17, 2010: Still inaccurate. Executive said that 11/02 payment was not applied, she did not know why. She then said it was applied to the wrong account.
December 1, 2010: Mortgage statements are finally accurate.

foreclosures around the world

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 21:48:54 +0000

I didn’t think anyone could be in worse shape than the U.S., but the crooks that are crippling America will bring Ireland to her knees — Spain is expected to follow on Ireland’s heels. Neither government has sufficient funds to bail out these poor people. Ireland has been bandied about so much during the centuries that this is painful to read, particularly for someone with Irish heritage.

Excerpts from International Living:

In short, the mother of all real estate and banking bubbles has imploded. The Irish government guaranteed the entire financial system’s liabilities. The extent of banking losses is breathtaking. Losses will be in the region of two to three years’ worth of the country’s total tax take.

Official statistics tell us that real estate prices have fallen by 40%. This is misleading. It hides the fact that there is no liquidity . . . no buyers whatsoever in many cases. To find a buyer you may have to drop prices by 70% or more. And if you do find a buyer, chances are the sale will fall through anyway. Financing is almost non-existent.

Let me give you an example of how bad things are. Earlier this year I met an old friend for lunch in a Dublin hotel. He just bought a new home in central Dublin. He paid $1 million. His neighbor paid $2.5 million for the same house a couple of years ago.

To clear unsold inventory of new apartments on the outer reaches of Dublin’s commuter belt, developers now need to cut prices to the $96,000 to $110,000 range. This is a fire sale. The list price on the same units would have been much higher—somewhere in the $274,000 to $356,000 range.

Before taking the plunge you need to understand the foundations that Ireland’s real estate market sits on.

In September 2008, fearing a run on the banks, the government guaranteed all deposits and liabilities of Irish banks. This put Irish taxpayers on the hook for every bad loan made and every bond issued.

After guaranteeing these loans, the government created a “bad bank” called NAMA (National Assets Management Agency). Years—maybe even decades—of inventory are now in NAMA’s hands. We have no idea what NAMA will do with it. Will NAMA offload at fire sale prices? Whatever it decides will have a dramatic impact on the market.

Foreclosures (or repossessions as they’re called in Ireland) are rare. The legal process for foreclosures is difficult. And the banks are worried about the bad publicity. But this situation may not last. This means that even more inventory could come on stream on top of excess supply. If it does, there will likely never be a level of demand that will meet current supply levels.

in case YOU can’t do the math . . .

admin — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:06:37 +0000

We all know by now that mortgage lenders can’t lose on those loans no matter what, don’t we?

However, I have not been able to do the math — it makes my mind reel. So these wonderful gentlemen have done the math for us and even illustrated it in large letters and numbers. It’s difficult for me to believe that America’s financiers are this crooked, but, as “they” say, it is what it is.

dear bank: get back to YOUR business!

admin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:57:02 +0000

A major bank is now offering an “associate discount program” to their customers.

Just what is an “associate discount program?”

Well, they basically are on-line retailer shops selling items such as books, shoes, luggage, cruises, vacations, etc., via the internet. They are in direct competition with local businesses and they — in this case Bank of America — gets a percentage of everything you buy from their “associate discount program.” Local retailers will lose business as a result of any purchases you make through Bank of America.

Whomever thought of this should be asked “What ARE you thinking?” Or, “Are you thinking?”

This is an example of an affiliate marketing program. This program was established to help raise funds for Marin Family Action’s Families Fighting Foreclosure. Not only is the bank mentioned in this article responsible for displacing several of our families, they have entered a sales arena that directly competes with local shops. Some of our families who lost homes are local retailers. This bank should get back to the business at hand.

Please support Marin Family Action’s work with Families Facing Foreclosure by traveling through on our affiliate program at Expedia.com or by purchasing items through our gift shop at Marin Family Shops at CafePress

Items include high-quality SIGG water bottles (image left), TShirts, travel bags, caps, and even a Flip Mino HD.

All funds are used to help save homes through all legal means possible.

Banks are purportedly taking care of our money; they are not an affiliate marketing program/retail gateway for consumers. This program makes no sense from a banking institution — are you really that hungry/desperate? Oh, don’t answer that — we all are, I suppose.

Why is banking institution allowed to conduct business in such a manner. Affiliate marketing links are consumer gateway, NOT banking products. Again, this puts the bank in direct conflict with various local businesses that are their clients.

Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for today’s banks/lenders to run their business in more professional “bankerly” manners, as in paying attention to the millions of fraudulent real estate loans handed out in the past 4-6 years.

Due to poor lending practices by banks, by the time all is said and done, more than 60 million people will have been displaced in America — that is more forced movement than any time in the recorded history of the world from any source, including war, persecution, hurricanes, floods, fire and earthquakes.

PLEASE get back to what you are supposed to be doing, which is managing money, not selling retail products through affiliate marketing programs.

If this particular lender proceeds with this instead of managing its business, we need to complain to appropriate authorities, i.e. Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, etc.

I even like the particular bank “offering” this “service,” but this is way out of line and I was in court just yesterday with a woman trying to save her home from this very bank . . . the court ruled in the woman’s favor due to lack of responsiveness from this lender.

Rather than helping customers, they are setting up affiliate marketing programs to further make money from their clients and to compete with local retailers.

California Leglislature Findings

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:30:46 +0000

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE FINDINGS

1. Recently, the California Legislature found and declared the following in enacting California Civil Code 2923.6 on July 8, 2008:

(a) California is facing an unprecedented threat to its state economy because of skyrocketing residential property foreclosure rates in California. Residential property foreclosures increased sevenfold from 2006 to 2007, in 2007, more than 84,375 properties were lost to foreclosure in California, and 254,824 loans went into default, the first step in the foreclosure process.

(b) High foreclosure rates have adversely affected property values in California, and will have even greater adverse consequences as foreclosure rates continue to rise. According to statistics released by the HOPE NOW Alliance the number of completed California foreclosure sales in 20’07 increased almost threefold from 2002 in the first quarter to 5574 in the fourth quarter of that year. Those same statistics report that 10,556 foreclosure sales, almost double the number for the prior quarter, were completed just in the month of January 2008. More foreclosures means less money for schools, public safety, and other key services.

(c) Under specified circumstances, mortgage lenders and servicers are authorized under their pooling and servicing agreements to modify mortgage loans when the modification is in the best interest of investors. Generally, that modification may be deemed to be in the best interest of investors when the net present value of the income stream of the modified loan is greater than the amount that would be recovered through the disposition of the real property security through a foreclosure sale.

(d) It is essential to the economic health of California for the state to ameliorate the deleterious effects on the state economy and local economies and the California housing market that will result from the continued foreclosures of residential properties in unprecedented numbers by modifying the foreclosure process to require mortgagees, beneficiaries, or authorized agents to contact borrowers and explore options that could avoid foreclosure. These Changes in accessing the state’s foreclosure process are essential to ensure that the process does not exacerbate the current crisis by adding more foreclosures to the glut of foreclosed properties already on the market when a foreclosure could have been avoided. Those additional foreclosures will further destabilize the housing market with significant, corresponding deleterious effects on the local and state economy.

(e) According to a survey released by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) on January 31, 2008, 57 percent of the nation’s late-paying borrowers do not know their lenders may offer alternative to help them avoid foreclosure.

(f) As reflected in recent government and industry-led efforts to help troubled borrowers, the mortgage foreclosure crisis impacts borrowers not only in nontraditional loans, but also many borrowers in conventional loans.

(g) This act is necessary to avoid unnecessary foreclosures of residential properties and thereby provide stability to California’s statewide and regional economies and housing market by requiring early contact and communications between mortgagees, beneficiaries, or authorized agents and specified borrowers to explore options that could avoid foreclosure and by facilitating the modification or restructuring of loans in appropriate circumstances.

2. “Operation Malicious Mortgage’ is a nationwide operation coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to identify, arrest, and prosecute mortgage fraud violators.” San Diego Union Tribune, June 19, 2008.

The Justice Department announced that it has been quietly conducting a nationwide sweep of the real estate industry for the past three and a half months, dubbed “Operation Malicious Mortgage.” Withing the first three months of operation, it charged 406 defendants with mortgage fraud in 144 cases, Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip said at a news conference this afternoon, and the fight against white-collar crime is far from over.

Between October 2008 and June 2010, the FBI opened 23 local mortgage fraud task forces around the country with the purpose of curtailing the illegal misstatement, misrepresentation or omission of material facts on mortgage applications.

As of June 2009, suspicious mortgage-related activity for the year was on track to exceed 70,000 cases, a 10 per cent increase over 2008 levels, according to preliminary FBI estimates. Mortgage fraud-related losses totalled $1.4bn in 2008, an 83.4 per cent rise over the previous year.

In the first six months of 2009, losses exceeded levels for the same period in 2008 by $208m. California and Florida, two states that played a key role in the subprime meltdown, had the most mortgage fraud in 2008, according to the latest data. Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Sacramento, New York, Tampa, Detroit, Minneapolis and Atlanta were the top cities in descending order for mortgage fraud.

3. “Home ownership is the foundation of the American Dream. Dangerous mortgages have put millions of families in jeopardy of losing their homes.” CNN Money, December 24, 2007.

4. “Finding ways to avoid preventable foreclosures is a legitimate and important concern of public policy. High rates of delinquency and foreclosure can have substantial spillover effects on the housing market, the financial markets and the broader economy. Therefore, doing what we, can to avoid preventable foreclosures is not just in the interest of the lenders and borrowers. It’s in everybody’s best interest.” Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, May 9, 2008.

5. “Most of these homeowners could avoid foreclosure if present loan holders would modify the existing loans by lowering the interest rate and making it fixed, capitalizing the arrearages, and forgiving a portion of the loan. The result would benefit lenders, homeowners, and their communities.” CNN Money, id.

6. On behalf of President Bush, Secretary Paulson has encouraged lenders to voluntarily freeze interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages. Mark Zandl, chief economist for Mood’s commented, “There is no stick in the plan. There are a significant number of investors who would rather see homeowners default and go into foreclosure.” San Diego Union Tribune, id.

7. “Fewer than l%• of homeowners have experienced any help “from the Bush-Paulson plan.” San Diego Union Tribune, id.

8. The loss belongs where it was created — on Wall Street and Main Street Banks that rented their charter to Wall Street operatives who caused an unprecedented collapse of loan underwriting standards and crossing the line into fraud, forgery, and creation of false documentation. Companies SHOULD fail. Banks SHOULD fail. Borrowers CANNOT fail — because they are the backbone of the country and the economy.

9. There are plenty of lenders, investment bankers and money managers who did not play the game and are perfectly healthy. Bailout money should go to the players who played by the rules and are healthy. They are the ONLY ones who can and will lend, thus freeing up, somewhat, the tightening death grip of no credit and thus no commerce.

We are being “internally displaced” (meaning having to move within our own country) and our displacement rivals or exceeds international numbers:

2009, Sri Lanka: 300,000 war-displaced Tamils forced into camps;

2009, Yemen: 150,000 people fled fighting;

2009, Sudan: 250,000 displaced;

2009, Georgians: 192,000 displaced (Moscow, Reuters);

2008, Columbia: 380,000 forced off their farms by guerillas, paramilitaries or drug traffickers;

2008, World: 4.6 million from armed conflicts;

2008, World: 20 million displaced because of natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and storms.

Unfortunately History Does Repeat Itself

It is time to stand up and be heard.

"If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." — Eldridge Cleaver

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke

"Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.” — Edmund Burke

From Leo Tolstoy, one of the world’s greatest writers:

"Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us."

"I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means – except by getting off his back."

"If you want to be happy, be."

"In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."

"In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you."

elder abuse in America!

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:53:45 +0000

A significant number of our families who are facing home loss by the agents of lenders are America’s senior citizens; these individuals are the very people who have spent 40 or 50 years working and paying taxes to underwrite our society, including underwriting the recent bank bailouts.

Emotional abuse includes: “Subjecting an individual to fear, isolation or serious emotional distress.”

Few things are worse than losing your home, particularly one you have been in for decades. Emotional abuse also includes “Verbal assaults, threats or intimidation.”

One of Marin Family’s Action’s members (image right) was taken from her home, handcuffed and sent to the county jail. This woman is A 74-year-old California native with degrees in economics and welfare from University of California at Berkeley. No notice was given. Earlier that week her pacemaker was replaced.

When asked what it was like to be in jail, she said she was “stunned as the reality of my circumstance had not yet sunk in.” Because her pacemaker had been replaced earlier that week, stress was to be avoided. Her arms were already bruising from rough handling and handcuffs “All I could do is wait. There is nothing to do, no means to go to the bathroom. I sat handcuffed.” The nurse checked her pulse: 195 over 97, pronounced the pulse rate “okay” and asked if the bruises on Mary’s arms were “needle marks.”

Elder abuse covers several areas. We are working with groups that focus on abuse as relates to one’s home and loss of one’s home through predatory lending, through lack of cooperation with homeowners with regard to loan modifications, home improvement scams, and illegal fees paid to individuals professing to be able to help with home loan modifications or restructures.

The State of California is quite clear on definitions of elder abuse. Their 39-page citizens guide may be important if you or someone in your family is a senior citizen and is being subject to harrassment by lenders — this includes loan modification agreements that are ignored by lenders and lenders’ agents.

Financial Elder Abuse: Financial abuse is the theft or embezzlement of money or any other property from an elder. It can be as simple as taking money from a wallet and as complex as manipuating a victim into turning over property to an abuser.

This form of abuse can be devastating because an elder victim’s life savings can disappear in the blink of an eye, leaving them unable to provide for their needs and afraid of what an uncertain tomorrow will bring.

California has designated $25 million to help senior individuals for elder abuse:

Anyone age 65 or older, who is suspected of being abused or neglected, is eligible for APS without regard to income. If you suspect that an elderly or dependent adult is being abused or neglected, call your local adult protective services.

America’s working men, women — and often children — shaped this country into the great place that it is (was?).

Why aren’t we being protected? How did we become “the enemy” and “inconvenient?”

We are being “internally displaced” (meaning having to move within our own country) and our displacement rivals or exceeds international numbers: