Fannie Mae/Chase: Don't Evict 86-Year-Old Pearl Simon, 50-Year Resident, Risking Her Safety

For Fannie Mae, while working with Chase to any reasonable extent necessary, to postpone the anticipated November 9th, 2012 eviction of Pearl Simon, an 86-year-old disabled woman who has lived in her home for over 50 years, as well as her son Marc who is her caretaker.

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PEARL'S STORY:

Pearl is an 86-year-old Nebraska woman who has lived in her home for over 50 years.  In addition to having mobility problems, she developed Type I (juvenile) diabetes in her elder years, which, while manageable, can, in her case, make her blood-sugar levels occasionally fall to very dangerous levels if someone does not constantly monitor her.  Facing what is likely a November 11 eviction date, this will put her in jeopardy, as there is no good place for her to readily go where she can be watched over diligently.  She has also needed to stay put locally for the time being due to the need to obtain adequate access to post–cancer treatment supervision from designated doctors and other medical staff.

It is important to mention that her home’s foreclosure was caused by a mortgage loan pushed/solicited by Chase Bank that, given the income of her and her late husband Marvin (Marc’s father), was clearly an unmanageable loan.  Marvin, who was the primary customer in accepting the loan, suffered a massive stroke in his 70s, which helped to cloud his judgment.  It should also be mentioned that at the time that the loan was originated, which was March of 2007, it should have been quite clear to Chase that both the housing and mortgage markets were collapsing.  Many of those homeowners taking out mortgages at that time — especially those who did not have the most prime loans offered to them — were clearly in danger of not being able to manage the loan if, not due to initial-income issues, due to the collapsing economy.

Pearl’s husband used the loan to pay off credit-card and other debt he had as opposed to using it for unnecessary wants (as would be evidenced by Marvin’s credit report).  This includes a significant amount of credit-card debt that was paid to Chase via the mortgage loan.  However, a much more prudent plan of action for him would have been to seek alternative sources of income available to him such as Supplemental Social Security, or even consider reorganization (Chapter 13) bankruptcy as a strategy to deal with declining income as well as any debt that he had, especially considering his being an advanced elderly person.  However, his son can find no evidence that Chase warned his father that the acceptance of this loan, and its “moral” use to pay off any existing debts, would likely lead to the loss of his home.  Again, he and his spouse were in their 80s when the loan was solicited to them, and the ramifications of the loan were not fully explained by Chase — and the stroke that Marvin suffered compounded the problem.

Fighting the aftermath of this mortgage loan has not been pleasant for Pearl and Marc.  During the hottest local summer on record in 50 years, they were not able to get their home’s air-conditioning system fixed, relying on electric fans and water squirt bottles to try to keep cool.  In order to fight a court order to grant eviction which was made on faulty procedural grounds, a substantial rent back-payment had to be made, and $500 monthly rent payments needed to be made, which Fannie Mae’s attorney challenged and got increased to $1,153.  (Fannie Mae’s attorney tried to get the $3,000 rent back-payment increased over tenfold, but lost that effort.)  As a result, there have been very difficult problems in meeting basic living expenses, including food, medicine, and utilities, and Marc and Pearl needed to turn to charitable assistance as a result.

Despite some pre-foreclosure accommodations from Chase to make the mortgage loan more manageable, Marvin’s passing away in December, 2010 due to treatment complications from cancer, which seriously impacted family income, made an originally unmanageable loan quite unmanageable even with some accommodations.  An actuarial chart might have clued Chase to this possibly happening, not to mention what it knew about the housing market.  Chase received, in short order from Fannie Mae, what appears to be a windfall of close to $40,000 from the mortgage loan, even factoring in Chase’s court costs; add in the mortgage payments made to Chase, the fact that Chase likely needed to only have about ten percent of the loan money on hand at the time of loan origination, and possible tax write-offs, and Chase likely did not fare badly from it.  There are no doubt many good folks at Chase as well as Fannie Mae, but Fannie Mae — which is currently 80 percent taxpayer-owned — ought to have a moral imperative to be more balanced with who it helps here, such as the “99 percent” like Pearl who, in these types of people’s case, are literally being endangered with their lives by being pulled out of their homes.

Why is this important?

Let us please add:  In the original court documents from Fannie Mae’s attorneys seeking the writ of eviction, “not more than $500” was stated to be the fair monthly rent value of the home.  Given the still-declining value of American housing, and due to reasonable repairs/remodeling that need to be made in what is an over-50-year-old home, this $500-per-month value, as opposed to an increase to $1,153, strikes us as fair in the short-term over the next couple years — not just morally, but economically as well.

THUS, for humanitarian and righteous reasons, we request:  that two years’ worth of $500-per-month payments should be allowed (starting in January 2013, and ending in December, 2014) to allow Pearl to remain in the home at least for the next couple of years, and also to allow time for Marc to finish up a bevy of online graduate-level coursework leading to graduation in about a year and a half, with about an extra half a year added in to allow Marc, who has also suffered from disabilities, reasonable time to find employment to support himself and his mother.  (Veterans Administration payments to Pearl based upon Marvin’s World War II–era service, anticipated to begin at the end of the 2012 calendar year, will also help to ensure for this payment proposal to work.  Furthermore, “shadow payments” of $500 or more, derived from three $1,153 payments recently made to Fannie Mae, would be used to declare $500 monthly payments to have already been made for the last quarter of the 2012 calendar year.)  (In December 2014, we ask for at least the right to a courteous talk with Fannie Mae authorized representatives in regards to future housing plans and possibilities that Fannie Mae might be able to accommodate.)

Keeping the home occupied by a long-term, stable, reasonably-paying occupant also strikes us as a better proposition as opposed to allowing the home to remain vacant, and selling it for perhaps 20 percent of its value to banks or hedge funds — while doing the right thing for a vulnerable, elderly person.

Thank you sincerely for your time and urgent consideration.

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OCCUPY OUR HOME SUPPORTERS:

Please contact the following individuals:

FANNIE MAE:

Mr. Timothy Mayopoulos, President/CEO; Mr. Terry Edwards, Executive VP, Credit Portfolio Management (you may try contacting these individuals, but if unsuccessful, you may leave an appropriate message with an administrative assistant)

Phone:  202-752-7000

(You may also give or leave the same message for the Regional Principal Executive and Executive Team at the Chicago Regional Office at:  312-368-6200.)

Message to deliver to the above personnel (you may put into your own words as you see fit):

“Please postpone the impending eviction of Pearl Simon of Omaha, Nebraska, an 86-year-old woman who has been in her home for over 50 years, who will be medically endangered by such an eviction.  She and her son can manage rent payments, in accordance with the original $500-per-month valuation from Fannie Mae’s locally-retained attorney, from January, 2013, to December, 2014, which is on top of close to $7,000 of post-foreclosure payments already made to Fannie Mae.  This will allow Pearl and her son time to find a solution to Pearl’s housing crisis, which resulted from a very unmanageable loan that was pushed to her and her late husband, both elderly people in their 80s during loan origination, by Chase Bank, and also noting here that her husband had a severe stroke causing cognitive impairment prior to the origination.  Please refer to the OccupyOurHomes.org website for the complete story, and thank you for your urgent time regarding the matter.”


JPMORGAN CHASE:

Mr. Jamie Dimon, Chairman/CEO
Phone:  212-270-1111
e-mail:  Jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com

Mr. Frank Bisignano, Co–Chief Operating Officer
(Leave message for Mr. Bisignano with Kevin Cook, Executive Home Lending Supervisor, at 614-868-2846.)

Message to deliver to the above personnel (you may put into your own words as you see fit):

“Please assist Fannie Mae in postponing the impending eviction of Pearl Simon of Omaha, Nebraska, an 86-year-old woman who has been in her home for over 50 years, who will be medically endangered by such an eviction, and whose foreclosure resulted from a clearly unmanageable loan solicited by Chase.  This will allow Pearl and her son time to find a solution to Pearl’s housing crisis, which resulted from a very unmanageable loan that was pushed to her and her late husband, both in their 80s during loan origination, and solicited despite her husband having had a severe stroke before origination which caused cognitive impairment.  Please refer to the OccupyOurHomes.org website for the complete story, and thank you for your urgent time regarding the matter.”

Thanks, supporters, for your time and heartfelt efforts.

How it will be delivered

By certified mail and other appropriate media outlets.

***UPDATE***  On the scheduled November 9, 2012 date for the eviction to be carried out, Pearl and Marc were able to receive, from Fannie Mae's attorney and conveyed to Marc's/Pearl's attorney, a 30-day stay of eviction, while long-term solutions that are fair to all parties are being explored.  Thanks again to all who helped us!