A bad economy has served up hard times for Alice Rivera. She lost her job three months ago. She lost her home this week.
"They're just, 'we're taking your house away and that's it,'" said Rivera.
Rivera tried to get help from Bank of America, who holds the note to her house.
The Bank participates in the federal government program that is supposed to help homeowners who are underwater on their loans, called Making Home Affordable Program. Refinancing or loan modifications are supposed to be available to those who qualify.
Rivera said she will never know.
"And they just kept on like, ‘call us in two weeks, call us in two weeks’ and I didn't get a response. I just received letters that say they were going to foreclose on my house, "Rivera said.
Robert Doggett , an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid said it’s not just Bank of America. There are dozens of lenders participating in the Making Home Affordable Program.
Doggett says his offices are swamped with homeowner calls: people who lose their jobs and ask for help from their lenders, only to discover the banks continue to foreclose, while acting receptive to refinancing a troubled loan.
Doggett said, "How they do that? They keep you distracted over here like a magician. Meanwhile, they're working a foreclosure angle as fast as they can. This is not just Texas. This is nationwide.”
The federal government says there are more than 5.5 million homeowners who are two months behind on their mortgages. Yet, to date, only a little more than 116,000 have had their loans permanently modified. In Texas, research shows only 2,500 have gotten a permanent loan fix.
"It's very, very voluntary, and thus the federal government isn't pushing very hard. And so the success is limited. In fact, it's a failure,” said Doggett.
Across town, Jennifer has been accepted into a Bank of America trial period and is sending in modified loan payments. She said it wasn’t easy.
Jennifer logs the names of loan negotiators, their email addresses, and fax numbers. She wants promises in writing, and she says she isn’t always getting that.
Jennifer said, "This document, this trial payment agreement, it was already expired 15 days before they even sent it to me. Nobody knows what the rules are. Nobody knows how to rectify it. Nobody’s regulating it.”
The best advice, said attorneys with the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Inc. is to document everything and contact the bank persistently.
Meantime, the foreclosure notices continue to be sent out, a reminder to Jennifer that her home is not her own.
"The first Tuesday of March, I'm going to be at the courthouse, to make sure it's not up there (on the auction block)," she said.
As of publishing time, KENS 5 was still waiting for a response from Bank of America on this story.
Like other lenders, a spokesperson says financial institutions are under no federal regulation to provide any relief for homeowners who are delinquent on their loans; they do so voluntarily.
