Hispanic Immigrants Form Group Under Pastor to Fight Foreclosures

December 11th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosures

Hispanic immigrants in The Valley under the leadership of Father John Lasseigne of Mary Immaculate Church and others have formed a group to fight foreclosures. They have put pressure on the banks as nearly 500 families are facing foreclosure but the banks say that the loans were not given en masse and as such group action is without meaning. The organizers hope to pass on their findings to the government officials as additional leverage on the foreclosure issue affecting their lives.

With the fall of property prices even modification is unlikely to help many – especially those with low credit scores and modest incomes. It is apprehended that they will not be able to run their modified loans either.

The sufferers in Pacoima and the adjoining regions feel that they have to take some steps, as the banks seem to be indifferent to their fate. Last Sunday about 60 house owners held a meeting in a law office with spokespersons of Chase Bank. Chase is now handling the loans that had hitherto been serviced by Washington Mutual.

Joseph Hernandez is a young teacher at Arleta High School who is concerned about the house of his parents being swallowed by foreclosure. It is his home where he lives with them, his two sisters and three nieces. They are all pooling in their incomes to somehow avoid foreclosure that will take away this three bed roomed house. Joseph’s parent’s paid $488,000 for the hose in 2005. They managed to get the loan despite the fact that they earned a paltry amount in the local dry cleaning joint. They managed to make a down payment of $100,000 after selling another small house in the town.

Initially it was great fun and they were proud of their own home and proud of the fact that they were all contributing to the mortgage. But soon things turned sour. The lenders steered the loan towards a negative amortizing mortgage that allowed the family to make payments that were less than the standard instalments made towards principal and interest. This allowed the principal loan to slowly increase until the loan touched $500,000. Simultaneously the value of the house plummeted to $300,000! A broker had smart talked Joseph’s mother in taking that type of loan before vanishing and leaving the field open for foreclosure.

The leaders say that the story of Joseph Hernandez is typical of what is happening in northeast San Fernando Valley.