Two days after a 90-year-old Ohio woman shot herself as deputies tried
to evict her from her foreclosed home, Fannie Mae has decided to
forgive the delinquent loan and give her the house outright, CNN reports.
"We're going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the
loan and give her the house," said Fannie Mae spokesman Brian. "Given
the circumstances, we think it's appropriate."
Addie Polk of Akron is listed in critical condition at Akron General
Medical Center. She shot herself at least twice in the upper body
Wednesday afternoon as sheriff's deputies came to evict her from the
house she has lived in since 1970. CNN has video of a neighbor
describing what he saw.
"There's a lot of people like Miss Polk right now. That's the sad
thing about it," said Akron City Council President Marco
Sommerville."They might not be as old as her, some could be as old as
her. This is just a major problem."
CNN explains Polk's story:
In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for
$45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
The same day, she also took out an $11,380 line of credit.
Over the next couple of years, Polk missed payments on the
101-year-old home that she and her late husband purchased in 1970. In
2007, Fannie Mae assumed the mortgage and later filed for foreclosure.
Deputies had tried to serve Polk's eviction notice more than 30
times before Wednesday's incident, Sommerville said. She never came to
the door, but the notes the deputies left would always disappear, so
they knew she was inside and ambulatory, he said.
Sommerville said Akron is creating programs to help people keep their
homes. "But what do you do when there's just so many people out there
and the economy is in the shape that it's in?"
He added that many businesses and individuals have offered to help Polk.
USA TODAY:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/10/ohio-woman-90-s.html
