We've spent the last several years reading heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story about the immoral, unethical, often illegal, activities of the big banks in their heartless pursuit of foreclosing on those down on their luck, usually through no fault of their own. Well, today I heard a story that made me believe there's one person somewhere, deep in the bowels of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage that does have a heart after all.
Since we've heard so many of the painful stories, I thought it would be good to share one of the happy stories as well - and hope that the person responsible for this story will be behind more happy stories. Below the fold is the happy story.
I have a relative who, though in her youngish middle age, has lived through more than anyone, young or old, than I'd think a body could handle.
It began with an abusive father who hid the abuse well and made the kids too fearful to share their pain with anyone, even their mother. It seemed to turn around when she met and married a man who seemed to be a caring, decent person. They had a couple of kids and he adored the children and seemed like the perfect father. She worked while he finished college. He graduated and promptly abandoned her, literally disappearing from their lives, when she was pregnant with their third child. She was left to raise 3 children, two under the age of 3 and a third on the way, on her own, with no help of any kind.
She moved back home to her parents and somehow managed to get on her feet a bit. Got a little government assistance and, although there was never anything left over for extras, managed to find a home of her own for herself and her kids. It was little and it wasn't in very good shape, but they had their own space.
She went back to school part time. It took her over ten years, but she managed to obtain her master's degree and find a job she loved. Life finally seemed to be looking up after all those years of mind numbing poverty and hard work.
In her new job, she met a couple of little boys who were having difficulties. As usual, she stepped in to try to help them, going far and above the call of duty for them. In fact, her helping them involved them staying with her from time to time so she could make sure they received proper medical and dental care and much needed help with their school work. Then one day, they no longer had parents to return home to. Their mother returned to Mexico and their father just left, no one knows where. And so she had 2 pre teen boys added to her already hefty responsibilities. Because they were in the country illegally, she could obtain no help with their care. Although she was making more money than she'd ever made before, she was back to scrimping to now support 5 children by herself. Still, she adopted the two boys so they could become US citizens and they became a permanent part of her family.
The good times didn't last long, though. Just a few years after finding her dream job and thinking she'd finally escaped the mind numbing poverty and hard work she'd endured so long, she had an auto accident. She thought she'd somehow just fallen asleep at the wheel and gone into the ditch. Fortunately, the police officer responding to the accident was a sensible and humane person. He didn't think it sounded like she'd fallen asleep in the middle of the day that way and suggested she get herself checked out by a doctor. She did and discovered she had a malignant brain tumor. It was what had been causing her excruciating headaches for awhile.
So began a harrowing trip through radiation, radiation that was targeted into her brain to try and stop the growth of the tumor. Surgery was not an option and there was no hope the cancer could be eliminated - she could only hope for lengthening her life by slowing, perhaps even stopping the tumor. As if that, while having 5 children dependent on her and only her wasn't enough, shortly after the discovery of the tumor, restructuring eliminated her much loved and desperately needed job. And with her job, of course, her insurance.
Fortunately, she was able to complete her treatment. Unfortunately, the treatment itself did significant damage to her brain, mainly affecting her short term memory, making her unable to process new information. Since the jobs in her field are few and far between, she attempted to move into a related field. However, because she was no longer able to process new information, she could not qualify for the new field, and her college education and master's degree became essentially worthless to her.
She's been able to find two part-time, low paying positions, and somehow she's almost managed to make ends meet for her family of 6. Her home wasn't much, but her mortgage payment was low and by utilizing her attic space, she was able to squeeze the whole family in there. Somehow, though, during the last year, she got a little behind on her mortgage payments. Not by much, but anyone who's had this happens knows how hard it is to get caught up again. She tried working with Wells Fargo. She called them every month and let them know what was going on and when she thought she could pay. She managed to save up $500 and sent it in. It would have caught her up to June. But they didn't cash the check. Then she got a call from their infamous attorneys, Trott & Trott. They were beginning foreclosure. A notice was published in the paper. Her kids saw it. Their lives were spiraling down fast.
She called Wells Fargo. Said "Why? I've been working with you, I've been keeping you updated, I've sent in money to nearly catch me up, but you didn't cash it. What's going on?" They said "We don't know whether we'll be cashing it." She said "What can I do?" The woman didn't seem too hopeful, but she gave her the name and number of a state government organization that she said might be able to help her. It's supposed to help people get caught up and, the woman said, might even pay up to $5,000 towards the mortgage.
She called the government organization. They required an application explaining what happened that caused her to get behind and how she'd stay caught up if she got help. She provided her story. They offered her help in getting her sad little house weatherproofed, but it didn't look as though they were going to be able to do much about her mortgage.
Then Friday evening, when she returned home, there was a message on her answering machine to please call Wells Fargo for good news about her mortgage. She called. The woman on the other end told her that she'd read the application to the government organization that my relative had filled out. And she told her that as a result of reading that story, Wells Fargo was not going to reinstate her mortgage or give her more time to get caught up. Rather, the woman on the other end of the phone informed her that Wells Fargo was going to forgive the balance of her mortgage in its entirety. She will own her house free and clear. Granted, the balance was less than $11,000, but that end of that payment and the end of the worry over possibly losing her home will make a world of difference in her life.
And to top it off, she got the results of her latest MRI this week. It shows the tumor has not grown. That means she won't have to have another Pet scan until another MRI shows growth. And she'll now only to have to have an MRI once a year. She can pretty much count on being able to see all her kids graduate.
She'll continue to suffer frequent excruciating headaches. Her brain will never function well, she'll never be able to hold a good job again since she can't learn new information and has terrible memory loss. She will always be living paycheck to paycheck and will never have anything to spend on herself. But she has 5 kids who are doing pretty good. Several are in college and the others are spreading their wings with jobs of their own. She can consider herself a success in her most important job of taking care of and raising 5 kids. And now, thanks to some truly good hearted person in some upper echelon of Wells Fargo, she will have the security of still having a home.
So, for the first time in my life, I actually want to say a huge Thank You to Wells Fargo. A day I never thought would come.