Could the Obama Administration throw us poor middle class Americans who have been almost destroyed by the corruption of the Bush years, just one bone?? One? No, it appears not. I have a predatory lender, called GMAC. They have violated TILA and RESPA laws, and in my opinion caused my foreclosure and subsequent Chapter 13. I did not lie on my mortgage application, and I did not know it was a sub prime loan when I got it. I was steered into the loan by a broker. You can read my personal story here. http://www.dailykos.com/... . I have written many articles documenting my struggles. This issue did not go away, in fact it remains untouched by Obama's DOJ. Follow me over the fold for a discussion about how these betrayals are adding up...
As we discuss the private health care issue, one part of the discussion that is missing is that families are being confronted with the HC bill after they have suffered financially under the Bush administration. When we are talking about the health care costs and budgeting, I haven't seen anyone take into account the money that many average Americans are already paying out as a result of the bush years in fees to sub prime lenders, and medical bills accrued under the high deductible plans that many employers put in place to respond to the 23% yearly increases in health care costs. These have to be figured into the budget along with the forced health care. And to make it worse, it looks like the Obama DOJ has yet to hold a single bank accountable. This is a discussion of my real life expenses and my real life disappointment in Obama.
According to an article linked on the Huffington Post: "So far, prosecutors and regulators have been unable to build such evidence into anything resembling a persuasive case against any financial institution." http://www.nytimes.com/... Originally, when Obama took office we heard that they were investigating, http://business.timesonline.co.uk/... and I felt hopeful that Obama would come to my aid and help stop the illegal practices of these banks. According to the FBI, 80% of the fraud was initiated by the banking industry and only 20% came from borrowers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Unfortunately, what I experienced was that GMAC, even as Homecomings financial went bankrupt, just continued it's practices. There will be restitution for me at some point, but my story shows how blatantly this behavior has continued, and so many people don't realize it's illegal, nor do they have the means to fight it. Most have lost their homes or will lose their homes. It has taken a tremendous amount of energy and time to prepare to fight this monstrosity of illegal behavior and fraud. For instance, I have to copy every one of my bank statements showing my payments and put them in a three ringed binder to bring to court. That's just one small job related to my battle for restitution.
Here's the latest example of GMAC's behavior. In May, I got a letter stating that my escrow account was low. It said I should pay 697.00$ now to keep my payment as it is. I am in bankruptcy and they have hauled me to court twice saying I didn't pay my mortgage when I did. I don't mess with the payments for this reason. So, I paid the fee, to keep my payments the same. But you know what?? They have sent me bill after bill stating that I owe the amount in payment that would have been true had I not sent them the 697.00 in June of this year. The check went through my account, but they still have me paying an increase in payment. I have paid, because I could. (the trick, now that I get it would have been that I pay at the lower amount and they haul me into court one more time trying to get out of the bankruptcy). But, I have paid the higher amount, and they have my check. So, the illegal behavior and accounting practices continue. Many people just give up. It's sad, and Obama has still not championed those folks who lost their homes illegally and who are losing their homes every day. His foreclosure plan was a bust, because the mortgage companies have continued with the fees, and the illegal behaviors. Nothing has changed.
So as we discuss the issue of health care, it seems missing the point, not to include how battle weary many Americans are. These folks are not likely typing on computers to Daily Kos. They are not completely broke, many are employed, but are barely surviving due to the damage caused by the Bush years. I pay an extraordinary amount of my budget to my home loan. If I leave the loan and my house, I face leaving it and still owing a huge amount of money. It's not the housing market but the unregulated fees and accounting errors that make my house upside down. I have been paying on this house since 2001 and only missed two payments. They have doubled my debt with fees that should be illegal, but remain unregulated. I know why folks still went into foreclosure after getting refinanced...it's because these loans had all the same fees and did not lower people's house payments. It just rolled the toxic debt into the loan payments. There has been no move to stop these institutions and Obama has not said one word to admit that this is going on.
My point is that when I freak out about this new health care bill, it's because I am at the end of my rope. I cannot afford this bill, not even with the subsidies. To top it off, it feels like an insult to have my reproductive rights limited, since I live in Nebraska, the home of Bill Nelson, this provision in the health care bills hits home again, in a very personal way. It's one hit after another for me and my family. It's not the health care bill by itself that makes me emotional and angry at Obama. It's that he has let me down in every way...and it's hurting me and my family. Our hurt is real, and I know that I am not unique or alone. I am just more noisy than most. This is a link to my last diary documenting my frustration. I know there are some inaccuracies in regard to the bill, but please understand, that it's not just this bill, it's that I am battle weary, for good reason. http://www.dailykos.com/...