Lisa Murzin-Pelcz Continues Her Battle Against Foreclosure

February 25th, 2009 | Tags: Foreclosure Notice

Lisa Murzin-Pelcz is a determined woman. Against tremendous odds she continues her battle against foreclosures although the odds are heavily against her.

Nearly a year has passed since Lisa was given a foreclosure notice on her house in East Hartford and it has been a long time since she has made any mortgage payment. Federal and state mortgage assistance has been denied to her. Now she is trying out her luck through a bankruptcy court after having made efforts to talk with her bank and modify the loan. Every time it is the same reply for her – she cannot afford to keep her house with her annual salary of $27,000 as an aide to a teacher. Her chances for being qualified for the latest assistance programmes being launched by the state and feds are also slim.

Hartford Superior Court Judge, Robert Satter did not mince words when he said the he did not think that the government would be able to help her. He gave her another month’s grace saying that this one was the last one. But Lisa continues to nurse hope.

Today she is 46 years old. When she moved into her house she nursed a strong hope that she would not move out again because so far her life had been a series of shifting and moving. Lisa quipped, “I had moved so many times. I said, “They’d have to take me out in a pine box.’”

The story of Lisa mimes the national scene in many ways. More than 1 million mortgage borrowers have defaulted and been served with foreclosure notices. Many like her do not qualify for any assistance. They have to wait for months and maybe years only to be evicted in the end.

Connecticut is one of the worst affected states. Here the legal rules drag on the process of foreclosure for months before the occupier is finally defeated and evicted.

For Lisa her numbers are daunting. She is now in the red for $162,000. The figure includes $45,000 on missed payments together with penalties and interest at the rate of 11.75%. The bank has valued her house for $100,000 – a number that is very much on the high side.

The president of Connecticut Bankers Association said, “No one wants to foreclose and carry it on the books, but I think two years is a long time to stay in a house without paying anything.”