Oct 1, 2008 4:56 pm US/Eastern
Stressed Local Homeowners Hope Bailout Helps Them
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
Whatever form the bailout package takes, a number of people from the Pittsburgh area hope it includes help for homeowners who are struggling to keep their homes.
Alexander Banai and Sherie Francis were two of the people who marched with the ACORN group to the downtown offices of the Federal Department of House and Urban Development.
On Wednesday, a new provision of this year's Economic and Housing Recovery Act went into effect and they were hoping to get immediate help for their problem.
For Banai, an electrician from Washington County, the problem is a mortgage for which payments keep rising.
"My mortgage went from $653.48 cents to $1,048.53 in two years and it's due to go up again this December," he said. "What HSBC is basically doing is kicking me out of my house in a legal way. I can't afford my mortgage."
For Sherie Francis, the issue is eight months and $11,000 behind in mortgage payments on her Penn Hills home. She lost her job in the airline industry.
"They said they would give me lower payments if I came up with about $6,000," she said.
Before they left, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development held a news conference in Washington which the local office showed the visitors.
HUD Secretary Steve Preston said under the program, lenders would be required to write down the mortgage to a maximum of 90 percent of the home's new appraised value which could avoid foreclosure.
Details are still unfolding but as lawmakers consider bailout proposals, homeowners hope they pay attention to them.
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