Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

[chitown]

Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself - Yahoo! News

Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

AKRON, Ohio - Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff's deputies attempted to evict her.


Addie Polk's plight was cited by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Friday before the House voted to approve the $700 billion financial rescue package. Kucinich voted against the plan.
Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk's mortgage and allow her to return to the Akron home where she's lived since 1970.
"Just given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate," Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said, citing Kucinich's statement and news reports. "It certainly made our radar screen."
Polk remained in Akron General Medical Center and was expected to recover from chest wounds suffered last week.

She became the home's sole owner in 1995 when her husband died, then took out a mortgage loan in 1997 and refinanced several times, court and property records show.
Countrywide Home Loans filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk's home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff's auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.

Polk's longtime neighbor, Robert Dillon, climbed through her window and found her lying in bed bleeding with a gun next to her. He visited Polk in the hospital on Friday.
"She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she's had time to think about it," Dillon said.

[barbaro]

She took out a mortgagein 2004 and a home equity loan or HELOC in 2004.

She bought house in the early 70s.

Sorry....you play the game and if you lose, that's the way it goes.

[dirtydog]

Probably better off sticking the crazy old lady in a home.

[Butterfly]

^^ yeah, but they are too old to know what they are doing,

it's like giving a gun to a kid, which one is criminal ?

[bkkandrew]

She took out a mortgagein 2004 and a home equity loan or HELOC in 2004.

She bought house in the early 70s.

Sorry....you play the game and if you lose, that's the way it goes.

A decent example of how US banks got into the sorry state they are in today.

[Jesus Jones]

Dennis Kucinich, another true American patriot.

[November Rain]

How sad that a 90 year old felt desperate enough to do such a thing. Nice of the mortgage company to forgive the debt, but it makes me wonder why it got this far. Sure, it sounds like she owed a hell of a lot of money, but realistically, how long did she have left? Had she not shot herself, where would she be living now? On the streets? In a home (who would pay?)? Who's paying her medical bills, now?

Maybe the more humane thing would have been to let her live out her days & then foreclose...

[bkkandrew]

^But why did she continue to withdraw equity from her house for 37 years without expecting to pay it back?

That is the essence of the financial crisis that we all face today. Borrowing without any thought to repayment.

[Slipstream]

She took out a mortgagein 2004 and a home equity loan or HELOC in 2004.

She bought house in the early 70s.

Sorry....you play the game and if you lose, that's the way it goes.

Yeah one of the Ohio congressmen used this story as an example of how wrong the bailout is. This was before the bailout got passed.
It seems, according to the congressmen the sherriffs were knocking on the door (with eviction papers) when she shot herself.

RIP

[Loy Toy]

Apparently the bail-out amount recently passed by congress (700 billion) is only half the amount needed.

Where the fcuk is this economic disaster going!

I would be the last one to claim knowledge, and with regard to financial matters but it seems the experts have about as much idea as I have. NIL.

[bkkandrew]

Apparently the bail-out amount recently passed by congress (700 billion) is only half the amount needed.

Where the fcuk is this economic disaster going!

I would be the last one to claim knowledge, and with regard to financial matters but it seems the experts have about as much idea as I have. NIL.

Correction. Between $2-3TRILLION was needed. The entire financial system is insolvent.

[November Rain]

But why did she continue to withdraw equity from her house for 37 years without expecting to pay it back?

37 years? That's not what I read. I read 11.

She became the home's sole owner in 1995 when her husband died, then took out a mortgage loan in 1997 and refinanced several times, court and property records show.

To me, it looks like she ran into financial difficulties when her husband died & remortgaged her (by then owned) home in 1997. By that time she would have been 79. She probably thought herself that she'd only live a few more years & then they'd have the house.

Where does it say that they never paid off the mortgage in the first place? If it was an endowment mortgage, it's very likely his death paid it off, even if it wasn't paid off before that.

And for that matter, shouldn't the bank have some liability in this? What sort of a loan officer lets a 79 year old woman with no husband remortgage her house? How did they think she was going to pay them back? With fresh air? Or is the more likely scenario that they didn't give a shit, knowing that either she'd die or they'd foreclose, and they'd get the house anyway?

[bkkandrew]

But why did she continue to withdraw equity from her house for 37 years without expecting to pay it back?

37 years? That's not what I read. I read 11.

Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk's mortgage and allow her to return to the Akron home where she's lived since 1970.

A standard mortgage runs for a maximum of 25 years, which would mean payment completion in 1995. Multiple equity withrdawals must have taken place (to the shame of both the loan officer and the mortgagee) since 1970 to be in a position of foreclosure in 2008.

[Thormaturge]

This is where the UK benefitted from having Building societies whose purpose was to enable people to buy houses. They were far more compassionate when it came to repossessions.

Surely the bank that had the mortgeage had a charge over the property anyway so they would only stand to lose if the equity was drained completely by the current fall in house prices.

Where are this woman's family?

Will the mortgage company now retain an interest in the property or, as seems, simply be giving away money it is receiving from the taxpayer? If so then her family will probably be a lot more attentive now they stand to inherit a house.

[keda]

Apparently the bail-out amount recently passed by congress (700 billion) is only half the amount needed.

Where the fcuk is this economic disaster going!

I would be the last one to claim knowledge, and with regard to financial matters but it seems the experts have about as much idea as I have. NIL.

In this sort of situation with a tottering system and gov panicked into bailing out the major players with serious money, it isn't difficult to imagine other big boys start queuing up with their second set of books for handouts and other concessions.

[keda]

...Where does it say that they never paid off the mortgage in the first place? If it was an endowment mortgage, it's very likely his death paid it off, even if it wasn't paid off before that...

Endowments are a good bet if you're going to die sooner rather than later.

[Dan]

^But why did she continue to withdraw equity from her house for 37 years without expecting to pay it back?

That is the essence of the financial crisis that we all face today. Borrowing without any thought to repayment.

"Lending without any thought to repayment" would be just as good an explanation; after all they're just two sides of the same (now worthless) coin but it's an unfortunate mental tic - which all humanity seems to share - to blame the poor for their poverty and at the same time to exculpate the rich.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

woman who shot herself in the chest

Respect!...Why don't more people put the gun to their heart instead of their head???? I am pleased that somebody has tried it. Until I saw Heath Ledgers character do it in the film Monsters Ball, I thought it was a concept only I had thought of.

[BugginOut]

Could all the money in the world be made to disappear?


Nope, sorry, I'm not talking about a magic trick, but the reality of our economic system, which relies on debt. "Money" would vanish without debt.
It is difficult for us to come to grips with the fact that the total money-supply is backed by nothing but debt, and it is even more mind boggling to visualize that, if everyone paid back all that was borrowed, there would be no money left in existence.
That's right, there would not be one penny in circulation - all coins and all paper currency would be returned to bank vaults - and there would be not one dollar in any one's checking account. In short, all money would disappear.
The following quoted exchange explains exactly where this debt originates....
Marriner Eccles was the Governor of the Federal Reserve System in 1941. On September 30 of that year, Eccles was asked to give testimony before the House Committee on Banking and Currency. The purpose of the hearing was to obtain information regarding the role of the Federal Reserve in creating conditions that led to the depression of the 1930s.
Congressman Wright Patman, who was Chairman of that committee, asked how the Fed got the money to purchase two billion dollars worth of government bonds in 1933.
This is the exchange that followed.
ECCLES: We created it.
PATMAN: Out of what?
ECCLES: Out of the right to issue credit money.
PATMAN: And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our government's credit?
ECCLES: That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money.
It must be realized that, while money may represent an asset to selected individuals, when it is considered as an aggregate of the total money supply, it is not an asset at all. A man who borrows $1,000 may think that he has increased his financial position by that amount but he has not. His $1,000 cash asset is offset by his $1,000 loan liability, and his net position is zero. Bank accounts are exactly the same on a larger scale. Add up all the bank accounts in the nation, and it would be easy to assume that all that money represents a gigantic pool of assets which support the economy. Yet, every bit of this money is owed by someone. Some will owe nothing. Others will owe many times what they possess. All added together, the national balance is zero. What we think is money is but a grand illusion. The reality is debt.
Robert Hemphill was the Credit Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. In the foreword to a book by Irving Fisher, entitled 100% Money, Hemphill said this:
If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash, or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless situation is almost incredible - but there it is.
With the knowledge that money in America is based on debt, it should not come as a surprise to learn that the Federal Reserve System is not the least interested in seeing a reduction in debt in this country, regardless of public utterances to the contrary.

[November Rain]

A standard mortgage runs for a maximum of 25 years, which would mean payment completion in 1995. Multiple equity withrdawals must have taken place (to the shame of both the loan officer and the mortgagee) since 1970 to be in a position of foreclosure in 2008.

OK, maybe I'm being genuinely thick here, but I still don't see how that's the only or the likely scenario & I certainly don't see where it's implied.

The way I see it: Lady & Hubby buy home in 1970. Probably mortgaged (but nowhere is that said, it may have been a cash buy). By 1995 when hubby dies it is either already fully paid up, or hubby's death insurance pays it off. 1997 swings around (the first time that it is actually quoted that she remortgaged) and lady is finding it hard to make ends meet, so she decides to release a little equity. Crackpot/usurous bank (take your pick) decide to let her go ahead & lend to her. Downward spiral begins over 11 years where lady cannot possibly repay & keeps borrowing. Bank keeps allowing her to dig herself deeper into debt.

Surely, from the small amount of history that we have, this is the most likely scenario?

[November Rain]

woman who shot herself in the chest

Respect!...Why don't more people put the gun to their heart instead of their head???? I am pleased that somebody has tried it. Until I saw Heath Ledgers character do it in the film Monsters Ball, I thought it was a concept only I had thought of.

Because you're more likely to kill yourself quickly with a shot to the head. Most people don't even know where their heart actually is (if you think it's on the left, you're wrong - it's actually slightly left of centre). If you shoot yourself in the chest, it's far more likely you'll have a slow, agonising death while you bleed out or suffocate or drown in your own blood than die instantly. The brain is a significantly larger organ. Much less chance of missing it with a self-administered shot.

[Dan]

The brain is a significantly larger organ

That's a bit of an unwarranted generalisation, isn't it?

[Texpat]

Who is going to pay to clean up that nasty blood stain on the living room floor?

Kick her saggy ass out on the street or in with her kids. She drew down the principle invested in her home and didn't have a Plan B.

Who does this dumbass expect to pay her mortgage now?

Me?

Fuck that. Adios granny. Give the keys to the nice man and get your shit outta here.

[dirtydog]

The brain is a significantly larger organ. Much less chance of missing it with a self-administered shot.

We are talking about scampy here, I think he stands more chance with a chest shot

[barbaro]

^^ yeah, but they are too old to know what they are doing,

it's like giving a gun to a kid, which one is criminal ?

So....

Did she do what she did intentionally and under her own volition or did someone trick her?

I didn't see anything in the article indicating abuse or fraud, but I'm open to it.

Being 90, is not excuse to being stupid.....