Personal Injury Law

Foreclosure Relief For Suleman, The Octuplets, And Six Million Others

By Jane Akre

The mother of octuplets who has six other children at home may soon be without a home.  Records from the Los Angeles County property office show the home where she lives with her parents went into foreclosure on February 9th.   The family had been unable to pay its mortgage for 10 months. 

The home is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier and is owned by Angela Suleman, mother of Nadya Suleman, and grandmother to the 14 children.

The Los Angeles Times reports she owes more than $23,000 on the three bedroom home.  It could be sold on the courthouse steps as early as May 5. 

The lender is Indymac Federal Bank of Pasadena which reports about 10 percent of its customers are 60 days or more behind.

Nadya Suleman, 33, is jobless and receiving food stamps.  She gave birth to eight more children January 26, after receiving in vitro fertilization.  Public sentiment has been overwhelmingly negative, as seen on some blogs.

The Los Angeles Times reports that The Learning Channel (TLC) cable channel says it is not interested in featuring Suleman and her children in a reality-based show, as it already features a show about a couple with sextuplets.

Federal Relief On The Way

President Obama was in Phoenix Wednesday to announce his plan to stem the spread of foreclosures nationwide.   The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is designed to help up to six million families avoid foreclosures. 

Millions of responsible families are having difficulty making their monthly payments to the mortgage holder.  And when the value of their property falls, it becomes difficult to refinance that property at a lower rate.  Foreclosures lower the value of the neighborhood by nearly nine percent.

 The U.S. Department of the Treasury is overseeing the new plan.  Under it:

• Currently if you owe more than 80 percent of your mortgage, banks generally are reluctant to refinance. With the dropping price of homes, the banks will often access that the homeowner now has less than 20 percent invested.   The program helps these homeowners who have adjustable rate mortgages or loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to refinance.
• Families who now see their mortgages balloon to half of their monthly income, particularly those who had subprime loans, the lender will bring down the interest rate so the borrower pays no more than 38 percent of his monthly income. Treasury will share in the lowered principal owed on the mortgage.  Treasury will also help the borrower, up to $1,000 each year for five years, reduce the principal of the mortgage.
• Under the plan, renters who are displaced will be provided with financial assistance.

This program is not designed to help house flippers or real estate speculators.

Current eligibility details will be announced on March 4, when the program begins. 

The White House released a questions and answers page on its blog Wednesday.  #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).