Addie Polk, 90, of Akron, Ohio, became a symbol of the nation’s home mortgage crisis when she was hospitalized after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon.
On Friday, Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said the mortgage association had decided to halt action against Polk and sign the property “outright” to her.
“We’re going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the loan and give her the house,” Faith said. “Given the circumstances, we think it’s appropriate.”
[…]
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.“This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world,” Kucinich said after telling her story. “This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill.”
[…]
The city is creating programs to help people keep their homes, Sommerville said. “But what do you do when there’s just so many people out there and the economy is in the shape that it’s in?”
You have to wonder how many more of the elderly have been (or will be) pushed out of their homes by this crisis and have resorted to such measures that you don’t hear about.
Why should she get the house for free? Really. Why? Obviously, she got a loan for more than she could pay, and should have been foreclosed upon, like everybody else. If she was a better shot the bank would not have lot any money.
Digby said: “If she was a better shot the bank would not have lost (edited) any money.”
Yes folks, he is serious. And a bucket of yucks at cocktail parties too.
IMHO, if you believe in “Trickle Down”, which I do, bailing out the big banks will ease the credit crunch at all levels.
(It will probably help the pool boys at the exec’s houses, too…. :))
This situation is bad, but don’t forget that these folks were forced to play in the “bad loan” sandbox by the gang in Washington….
Regards
You’d think that by age 90 she would have had the mortgage paid off.
Two shots to the chest is the bailout plan for homeowners?
#4 – Mister Mustard
You would think… but lenders are slime. Watch the documentary Maxed Out on credit cards and debt…
1. Let’s be honest. Technically, yes, she should be foreclosed on.
2. Was it a smart loan? No. Blame Clinton, Bush, and the Senate for the current moronic regulations and incentives.
3. Fannie Mae is hated by the public right now. Foreclosing on her would backfire badly. Not a smart thing to do.
4. Ingore 1 to 3 and realize that this was the “right thing to do”. Sometimes humanity trumps money and when a senseless tragedy occurs it’s better to be humane than technically correct.
The original loan was done 4 years ago by Countrywide. It was packaged and flipped to Fannie Mae last year. When she didn’t make any payments, FM foreclosed. They would not have known the owner was 90 yrs old.
Who the hell makes a 30 yr mortgage to an 86 yr old and doesn’t expect problems?
So…just wondering. If she didn’t have the money to pay her mortgage, who is stuck with the medical bills now? Oh, that would be US.
The woman really should have been forclosed on, but frankly if it wasn’t for the fact that my tax money now has to go to pay for Fanny Mea’s bad mortgage loans I would not care if Fanny Mea decided to give her.
Now however, I am a little upset that she was given the house by Fanny Mea when the company has their hand out, and is begging for tax payer money, the fact is Fanny Mea can’t afford to be giving houses away in their current position.
It would be like you or I declaring bankruptcy, then getting welfare, yet still deciding to give money to charity since its makes us look good.
Funny that all U.S. citizens aren’t getting their debts forgiven as the country’s representatives have committed assisted suicide for the nation with this bailout!
I think it is nice the debt has been forgiven. But should all 90 year olds get a free house? Does she have heirs? I am all for helping old folks but to anyone who cept up the payments on there own home or is stuck in a apt. this sounds crazy.
This is OUTRAGEOUS. Our government is acting just like a con-artist/bunko team.
It works like this: outright cheat who you are dealing with and if they complain, immediately give them their money back. This works all the time for those experienced cheats who value the “long con” over the grab and run.
Now–I don’t for a minute think the government “IS” working a con===they are just acting in the same way. Some “guilty frame of mind” is revealed.
I would happily shoot myself to get my house for free. Who can I contact for my suicide/house application?
Embarassing, yes. The government has no program to actually address these issues. Got to be a squeaking wheel.
Wow, what a jolly bunch of people. Banks and other lending institutions make these kind of compassionate “case by case” assessments all the time. In fact they even budget for them.
As for long term problems, the US is going to have adjust it’s regulatory environment to get in line with the rest of the of world (yea, get over that). You’ll need a much better Treasury Secretary who isn’t afraid of banking problems. You’ll also need a President who isn’t going to make stupid mistakes during a crisis. Good luck with that.
It’s going to take a long, long time for US citizens to trust their banks again.
How the hell does somebody that old have a mortgage? I mean the bank had to know, right? Even if it was a 30 year loan she took out 25 years ago she’d be 65, I mean they’re a bank right?, they can do the math, no? I mean what are the chances of her making it to 90 anyways!?! Something here ain’t right, and she’s just one example of millions.
I’ll be praying for the homeless, spent a few weeks like that myself. Thanks to a christian organization that ‘rescued’ me I got by somehow. That was over 25 years ago in Petaluma Ca. I wonder if those organizations still exsist, if they do they’re gonna be busy.
#16, amodedoma ,
You raise a good point but completely screwed it up simply because, like the other morans here, didn’t read the article OR my comment at post #8.
It wasn’t explained why but she took out the mortgage in 2004 with Countrywide. In turn, they packaged and flipped the mortgage with several others to Fanny Mae last year even though she had missed several payments. When she didn’t pay Fanny Mae, they foreclosed and tried to have her served. Deputies tried 30 times to serve her.
The questions should be:
Why would Countrywide give a 30 yr mortgage for $45,000 to an 86 yr old with only pension income?
Why would they also offer her an $11,400 line of credit on the same day?
Why would Fanny Mae buy a mortgage already behind with impending foreclosure?
Why did the “Bailout Bill” fail to do anything to help people in situations like hers.
Jeez, Mr. fusion, ain’t capitalism great! Those banks make those loans because that’s exactly what their CEO’s want them to do. their shareholders demand results, even (or sometimes preferably) temporary results. They knew where this was headed but are true only to themselves. The really big investors can move their cash much faster than anyone else, so they don’t really care if this years profits impact next years losses, they’re always the first out. Like rats on a sinking ship. That’s simplistic I realize but try to remember I’m a moran who doesn’t read your posts. Humanity is faced with some difficult challenges and they all seem to stem from the worst side of our own nature’s.
You know I can understand a person who has their back against the wall taking the less painful way out.
What I can’t understand is people being stupid enough to shoot themselves in locations that won’t kill them.
I had a cousin who told his wife if she left him he’d shoot himself. She did and he did in the stomach with a .22 rimfire. He did die but it was a month later in the hospital.
I had a former student that got mixed up in some stuff and ended up shooting herself in the flank with a deer rifle. She lived and is still around but you just know that’s gotta hurt.
I guess people just don’t know where their vital organs are located. Should they get a reverse Darwin award because they are to ignorant to get it right? Maybe being smart is over rated.
Yep, I can’t spell either but I do know where my brain is located.
#20
The only true suicides are those where the person actually kills themselves. Attempted suicide is usually the result of an excess of negative passion which negates the reasoning process, an irrational person doesn’t take time to think about how to do it. Then you have the accidental or unintentional suicides such as drug overdose or drunk driving or ritual suicides such as the japanese seppuku or those practiced by religous sects. The ever popular suicide bomber or kamikaze. So many ways to kill yourself, no wonder more people are doing it every moment of every day!
WOW..is this what it’s coming down too? Now that this news has been broadcasted, just think of how many more people are going to hurt or maybe even kill themselves thinking that they too can get mortgage forgiven! This is disgusting! No one should be bailed out because they can’t pay their mortgage, maybe they should not have signed papers for a mortgage they couldn’t afford and they would know this if they read before they signed, that sooner or later they would not be able to afford the hick in their mortgage. People need to stop living above their means and stop trying to live up to the Jones…They are the ones that got us into this mess in the first place along with the loan officers that said “sure you can afford this”!
Why did she take out an $11,380 line of credit? Wow now we pay for it and she spent the money! No problem there!
Glad I’m not in this mess! But I know that my children will have to pay for it later and that really pi$$e$ me off!
Thanks!
I know I am SUPPOSED to feel bad for her, but I don’t. Here’s a better idea than attempting suicide: SELL YOUR HOME. It’s simple, sell the property and rent something. Seriously. WTF?! And now an attempted suicide victim is becoming the nations symbol? I think not. How about the working parents with two kids that are losing their homes? They seem far more appropriate to me.
It is just horrible to hear people being so negative in light of this article, I have been reading about the suicides related to the mortgage problem for two hours now. The one thing I am seeing in the comments is how desensitized everyone is to the grave situation of suicide. No one cares, they are allowing a sense of murder to occur over money….yes we all pay, you spit on your grandmother by not taking care of her in the first place, think about it where was her family??? perhaps she had none, we are all responsible for each other the moment we stop caring about one another is the saddest day in humanity………SO Shameful