101-Year-Old Woman Foreclosed On …
The headline “101-year-old Detroit woman evicted in foreclosure” is enough to make your blood boil about how can this happen?
“Texana Hollis was evicted Monday and her belongings were placed outside the home. Her son, Warren Hollis, said he didn’t pay the bill for several years and disregarded eviction notices,” according to the Associated Press story via Yahoo! News. (emphasis is mine)
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- A 101-year-old Detroit woman has been kicked out of her home because her son buried his head in the sand. You can’t afford to do that when facing financially troubling times.
Yes this makes my blood boil. But, not in the way that it seems that most would expect. My blood is boiling in that Warren should be brought up on charges of elder abuse for not taking care of his mother as she expected him too. Of course we don’t know why he didn’t pay the mortgage and that can be explained away due to job loss or overall reduction in income.
However his admission that he “disregarded eviction notices” in my mind is the most appaling piece of this entire discussion. “I didn’t think it would ever happen,” he later said. And to be honest it probably wouldn’t have. If he’d talked to his mortgager.
Do you think the mortgager wanted to kick this 101-year-old woman out of her home? Of course not. But they had no way of knowing that she lived there because her son disregarded the notices.
Well there is nothing we can do for Texana now. So what have we learned from this situation?
- Talk To The Ones You Love. If your affairs are being handled by someone else make sure that you – or a third-party you trust – is also watching out for your money. The bank doesn’t care that you weren’t the one that was supposed to write the check – they just want the check.
- Pick Up The Phone. Once you know that you are in a situation, talk to your creditor. Don’t hide behind the phone. Pick it up and answer those debt calls. It will be painful but just stick to your honest story and move forward.
- Be Honest Up Front. This goes hand-in-hand with the last discussion. These creditors know you better than you want to admit. They are searching on facebook and twitter, they have your credit report, they know who your paying and not. So why put together some story? Just be honest and talk to them. They may not like what you have to say, but if that is your story it don’t matter.
- They Aren’t Lying, Take It Serious. If you are talking about your mortgage — remember that they do have a secured lien against your house. They can — and if you push them to will — take your home.
The basic thing you need to do is be a better steward of your own financial world. Don’t blame others for your situation but rather look at your situation and work with others to achieve the best goal possible.
