Settlement with Countrywide Could Help Thousands of Foreclosure Victims in Pennsylvania

February 9th, 2009 | Tags: Foreclosure Victims

Rajlakshmi Wahid, the mother of disabled Shabena is struggling on two fronts – seeing to her daughter’s needs as well a battling foreclosure. The house has been specially renovated to allow mobility of Shabena’s wheelchair. The door to her room is wide and the chair is made to go up and down the stairs on a rail. There is another wheel chair on the ground floor that takes the fourteen year old to the sidewalk to enable her to get on to the bus that takes her to Queens Center for Progress – an institution for children suffering from multiple disabilities.

Over six years these special features had been added to the house for the convenience of the mother and child. Today the house is in foreclosure and in all probability will be lost. The Wahids had bought the house located in Queens Village in 2001. The place where they lived before did not have enough space to introduce special features required for their handicapped child. The house was priced at $225,000 and they paid $80,000. They had to take of a loan of $145,000 to cover sundry costs like taxes, and insurance. The monthly payment of the mortgage amounted to $1,400 and initially that was manageable. Ms Wahid earned $3,200 per month from two jobs as housekeeper and Mr. Wahid brought in $1,600 as a machine operator.

After moving in they made the doorways wide, replaced the flooring and did some other renovation jobs. To defray costs they refinanced four times. This resulted in their monthly payments going up to $4,000. Even then they managed without slipping even for a single month. But clouds gathered when the marriage did not work out and Mr. Wahid moved away leaving the mother of his child saddled with a loan that had gone above $500,000. The situation became worse when a back pain forced Ms. Wahid to give up one of her assignments. She could no longer carry on with the mortgage.

Desperate she sought the help of non-profit bodies and then contacted Countrywide, her lender begging them to consider her case and make some adjustments. Letters were sent to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey. Catholic Charities helped her to pay for gas and oil bills but the foreclosure notice remained pending. In dire straits she tried to take the help of a scammer and lost $ 1,000 without gaining anything. Meanwhile her daughter has to be operated upon. Ms. Wahid cannot think anymore.