And that need led Ynigues and several hundred other homeowners, from as near as D.C. and Philadelphia and as far as Oakland and Seattle, to come to Washington to lobby lawmakers on March 11-12 for mortgage relief.
Marshaled by the grass-roots activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and with the backing of the AFL-CIO, the homeowners demanded lawmakers pass bills to prevent home foreclosures and to help them redo the mortgages. The foreclosures have been forced on homeowners by financial institutions hurt – directly or indirectly – by the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis.
But for Ynigues and the others, much of the problem comes from the lenders own misrepresentations if not outright fraud. He took his story to Congressman Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and other members of his state\'s delegation – Democratic and Republican – just as he had taken it to the steps of the state capitol in St. Paul the month before.
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| Al Ynigues, a Minnesota music teacher who may lose his home to foreclosure, speaks at a Capitol Hill rally of low- and moderate-income people demanding a moratorium on foreclosures. Photo by Mark Gruenberg of TNG/CWA Local 32035 for PAI Photo Service. |
It is a story that, with variations, could be repeated by millions of people nationwide now caught in the foreclosure crunch.
Ynigues explained he had given music lessons to a local real estate broker and the broker\'s kids, so when he considered buying a home in Dakota County, Minn., he approached the broker, expecting an honest deal. What he got was anything but.
The first thing Ynigues got was false information. The broker steered him away from a first-time homebuyer\'s program the county offered, with a favorable interest rate – 1 percentage point above the prime rate – that he could have afforded, and that Ynigues later found out, from ACORN, that he qualified for.
"But the broker was very aggressive and gave me a mortgage with a \'teaser\' rate of 6.9%," he told Press Associates Union News Service, in a story that could be repeated hundreds of times nationwide. But after 24 months, that "teaser rate" jumped by three percentage points, to 9.9%, and his monthly payment rose to $900.
It\'s scheduled to jump again next month, to 13.9%, and $2,400. Ynigues has to pay the first mortgage, plus $440 on a second mortgage, taken out to help pay the first.
How can he afford that, on a monthly income from music teaching and consulting of $3,000? He can\'t. When the broker put in Ynigues\' application for the loan, the broker arbitrarily changed the music teacher\'s income to $10,000 monthly. "And he got a $5,000 \'annual yield premium\' to talk me out of the Dakota County first mortgage program, too," Ynigues says.
Ynigues is still mad that the broker isn\'t on trial for fraud; a lawsuit on Ynigues\' behalf by ACORN is pending. And after seven months on the original rate, when Ynigues asked the broker if he could refinance to get a lower rate, he was told it would cost "$7,000 in closing costs, appraisal fees and inspection fees." He didn\'t refinance.
Upset and scared at the prospect of losing his house, Ynigues took his problems late last year to ACORN. The housing counselor at its Twin Cities office read through his papers and gasped: "Oh my God, you got screwed" and set to work on his case. He also took his cause to the state Legislature.
But Ynigues is not alone and that was the point of the D.C. rally as other homeowners, some of them with babies in arms, told of how other unscrupulous lenders in the sub-prime mortgage market left them over a barrel, facing foreclosure.
They drew support from sympathetic Senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Cleveland tops the nation in mortgage foreclosures and Detroit is not far behind, but the whole country is suffering. "This fight is about every person who is in the middle class. It\'s about justice," Stabenow said.
"We\'re trying to put in $200 million in the budget to go to non-profit organizations for counseling for these people" to help them keep their homes "and authorize $4 billion for Community Development Block Grants so cities and towns can step in to help them keep their homes, but Bush says \'no.\' Why? Because he wants to spend $3 billion a week on his war in Iraq," Brown said.
Homeowners facing foreclosure also have AFL-CIO support. The federation\'s Executive Council, meeting in San Diego March 4, demanded "an aggressive strategy" from lawmakers to help them, starting with a 6-to-12 month moratorium on foreclosures. The time would be used to create traditional 30-year mortgages, at lower rates.
"Many middle-class workers and individuals employed in low-paying jobs are one paycheck away from homelessness. Many have been victims of predatory and unscrupulous lenders," the resolution adds.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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And that need led Ynigues and several hundred other homeowners, from as near as D.C. and Philadelphia and as far as Oakland and Seattle, to come to Washington to lobby lawmakers on March 11-12 for mortgage relief.
Marshaled by the grass-roots activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and with the backing of the AFL-CIO, the homeowners demanded lawmakers pass bills to prevent home foreclosures and to help them redo the mortgages. The foreclosures have been forced on homeowners by financial institutions hurt – directly or indirectly – by the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis.
But for Ynigues and the others, much of the problem comes from the lenders own misrepresentations if not outright fraud. He took his story to Congressman Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and other members of his state\’s delegation – Democratic and Republican – just as he had taken it to the steps of the state capitol in St. Paul the month before.
|
| Al Ynigues, a Minnesota music teacher who may lose his home to foreclosure, speaks at a Capitol Hill rally of low- and moderate-income people demanding a moratorium on foreclosures.
Photo by Mark Gruenberg of TNG/CWA Local 32035 for PAI Photo Service. |
It is a story that, with variations, could be repeated by millions of people nationwide now caught in the foreclosure crunch.
Ynigues explained he had given music lessons to a local real estate broker and the broker\’s kids, so when he considered buying a home in Dakota County, Minn., he approached the broker, expecting an honest deal. What he got was anything but.
The first thing Ynigues got was false information. The broker steered him away from a first-time homebuyer\’s program the county offered, with a favorable interest rate – 1 percentage point above the prime rate – that he could have afforded, and that Ynigues later found out, from ACORN, that he qualified for.
"But the broker was very aggressive and gave me a mortgage with a \’teaser\’ rate of 6.9%," he told Press Associates Union News Service, in a story that could be repeated hundreds of times nationwide. But after 24 months, that "teaser rate" jumped by three percentage points, to 9.9%, and his monthly payment rose to $900.
It\’s scheduled to jump again next month, to 13.9%, and $2,400. Ynigues has to pay the first mortgage, plus $440 on a second mortgage, taken out to help pay the first.
How can he afford that, on a monthly income from music teaching and consulting of $3,000? He can\’t. When the broker put in Ynigues\’ application for the loan, the broker arbitrarily changed the music teacher\’s income to $10,000 monthly. "And he got a $5,000 \’annual yield premium\’ to talk me out of the Dakota County first mortgage program, too," Ynigues says.
Ynigues is still mad that the broker isn\’t on trial for fraud; a lawsuit on Ynigues\’ behalf by ACORN is pending. And after seven months on the original rate, when Ynigues asked the broker if he could refinance to get a lower rate, he was told it would cost "$7,000 in closing costs, appraisal fees and inspection fees." He didn\’t refinance.
Upset and scared at the prospect of losing his house, Ynigues took his problems late last year to ACORN. The housing counselor at its Twin Cities office read through his papers and gasped: "Oh my God, you got screwed" and set to work on his case. He also took his cause to the state Legislature.
But Ynigues is not alone and that was the point of the D.C. rally as other homeowners, some of them with babies in arms, told of how other unscrupulous lenders in the sub-prime mortgage market left them over a barrel, facing foreclosure.
They drew support from sympathetic Senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Cleveland tops the nation in mortgage foreclosures and Detroit is not far behind, but the whole country is suffering. "This fight is about every person who is in the middle class. It\’s about justice," Stabenow said.
"We\’re trying to put in $200 million in the budget to go to non-profit organizations for counseling for these people" to help them keep their homes "and authorize $4 billion for Community Development Block Grants so cities and towns can step in to help them keep their homes, but Bush says \’no.\’ Why? Because he wants to spend $3 billion a week on his war in Iraq," Brown said.
Homeowners facing foreclosure also have AFL-CIO support. The federation\’s Executive Council, meeting in San Diego March 4, demanded "an aggressive strategy" from lawmakers to help them, starting with a 6-to-12 month moratorium on foreclosures. The time would be used to create traditional 30-year mortgages, at lower rates.
"Many middle-class workers and individuals employed in low-paying jobs are one paycheck away from homelessness. Many have been victims of predatory and unscrupulous lenders," the resolution adds.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.