American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - seizing dreams and homes

On February 1st I could not believe my ears when Jean Cohoon of Illinois came on my show with Daniel Zanoza of rffm.org and broke a story on my national radio show of home ownership and mortgage horror which demonstrated the real impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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Jean shared how her and her husband had paid faithfully on their mortgage for 9 years and were never late on their $1100 a month mortgage payment, but were struggling greatly the last few years with the severe downturn in the economy and a major, family crisis. Jean took a second job and they hoped for some mortgage relief. Then it came. They heard about Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, applied by phone and the program tracked its way through Citibank. They were accepted. Jean is the first to admit that it seemed odd that there was no paper work involved. It was all done over the phone, but seemed to track to the Government and Citibank. They were told that they were accepted to the program and their mortgage payment would be reduced to $700 a month from $1100. They were thrilled and felt like this was a huge relief and blessing from God. Then the other shoe dropped Jean and her husband were shocked when after 3 months of paying a reduced, $700 a month to Citibank they were informed a mistake had been made and they were rejected from the program after all. They were informed that they were now considered 3 months late on their mortgage and would be required to pay $1500 a month until they had paid back the difference between the discount they were offered. They have also been continuously harassed and continue to receive phone calls by Citibank declaring how late they are on their mortgage. Oh yes…..Jean and her husband were also blamed for the mistake because they should have allegedly known the exact guidelines of this Government program……you know, the one that accepted 3 months of checks from them. Jean shared just how stressed she and her her husband were now having to pay $1500 a month. $1100 a month had been a growing stress, thus their application to this program. Now, their monthly payment nightmare was far worse and they were trapped by nasty bank calls pressuring them to make things current. Last they had checked, they had never been late and done what they were told to do with this program and the previous 9 years of payments. Now they are afraid after enduring all this time that they just might lose their home. After hearing Jean’s story, I couldn’t help but wonder how many hundreds or thousands of people have participated in this program also and then months later had the hammer slammed on them saying there was a mistake, now pay up current. “By the way, you are now behind in your mortgage.” This is how Citibank and Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is serving and helping the masses stuck in nasty mortgages and a ‘Bush caused’ economy? If one was a tin helmet or conspiracy theorist, you might think that this is a sick and greedy scheme to seize property of desperate home owners who are told that the mistake in a lowered payment was their fault and they are now late on their mortgage. This is yet another example of how Obama’s change works……it doesn’t. I am digging for more cases and asked my audience to help me find more folks who have quite innocently jumped into this program then had it rescinded only to face a higher mortgage payment and bank threats. This act should be renamed, The American manipulation and House slaughter Act. Shame on Obama, those involved with the American Recovery and Reinvestment act and those involved with Citibank who are involved in this. To those who have found themselves and their mortgage manipulated and/or rules changed mid stream with a Government program like this, I want to hear from you at drljroth@aol.com or therothshow.com. Do not quietly suffer and allow your home and mortgage to be manipulated or shredded.