06/10/2008
Thoughts of a Foreclosed Person
Tuesday, June 10,th 2008: I have learned not to trust. That is one of lessons gained from my foreclosure experience. In a way, I have survived it--after all, I'm alive writing this. But in another way, the belief I had in people is gone. Totally gone. That cannot be changed. Too much has happened and most of has been hard. My health has suffered as well. When I started to realize the mess I was in, there was no way for me to sleep 7 or 8 straight hours. I would wake up in the middle of the night asking myself: What will I do? What will I do now? There was no answer, though I tried looking for one.
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05/31/2008
In Law
Saturday, May 31, 2008: Unfortunately, I must stay at my sister's house a couple of weeks longer than I had planned. Getting out of here with almost no cash is not easy. In the meantime, I am putting up with her husband's attitude towards me. He says things under his breath, when he talks to me he uses a very sharp tone of voice, and if he should look at me, it is not a nice, friendly glance. Glacial is an optimistic description. I am not scared of him. I'm just sad, frustrated and angry. This is not what I expected when I came back from Argentina. Getting here was a great sacrifice and at the time I thought it was worth it, but I guess that this isn't so. Loneliness was a great big problem in Buenos Aires. I was an Argentine-born American citizen and it was difficult for me to deal with the prejudice and everything that goes with it. But here, living in a house with 4 people--my sister, her husband, my niece and my sister's adopted daughter from Guatemala--I am even more alone than I was over there. My niece won't talk to me because her mother feels the way she does about me. The adopted daughter has to stay with them, no matter what. And the husband? He has never liked my face. Never Ever.
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05/30/2008
Politically Correct?
Friday, May 30, 2008: Is it politically incorrect to say how ashamed and sad and bewildered I feel about my changed circumstances? Is it wrong to feel that this is unbelievable, wrong or just not the thing to make me jump for joy? I can't laugh anymore. I can hardly smile.
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05/26/2008
Roof Over my Head?
Monday, May 26, 2008: I have been told that I am lucky to have a roof over my head in my sister's house. I disagree. I am not welcome here, never was and I am very sorry I came. I do not need and I do not deserve to be thought of as a burden, as something nobody wants.
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05/17/2008
Drain
Saturday, May 17, 2008: One of the consequences of being foreclosed is rejection. Living temporarily with my sister and her family has been emotionally painful to say the least. Her attitude towards me is not only copied by her husband, but also by my niece Teresa and her adopted sister from Guatemala. When I came back from Argentina last December, I hoped that I would be able to be friends with my nieces. Now I am racking my brain to find the necessary funds to leave. Why don't they love me? They just don't. They fear I will become a burden.
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04/17/2008
$2,145.85 Foreclosure Tax Bill
Thursday, April 17, 2008: Today I got a letter from the Internal Revenue Service about my 2005 tax return. I was out of the country for almost 3 years, with no access to my US mail and I filed late. According to them, I owe $2,145.85 for getting foreclosed. It is a beautiful afternoon here, but to me it feels very cloudy and bleak. It seems that there is no end to my money problems because of the loss of the Buckhead condo. No end and I am drowning. Absolutely drowning.
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04/09/2008
Help for Struggling Homeowners
Wednesday, April 9, 2008: I understand that much-needed aid to struggling homeowners is not something that will actually happen. The Democrats and the Republicans. What one party wants to do, the other says no, thanks or No, way! When there are human beings suffering because of the subprime and mortgage fraud crisis, why are politicians so intent on not doing what they should and must do? Didn't the people in trouble pay taxes? Aren't they US citizens? Don't they deserve to get a break and start all over again?
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03/28/2008
Bad Human Investment
Friday, March 28, 2008: I cannot thank all this mortgage fraud/predatory lending episode enough for all the trouble it has cost me. I am not just talking about financial losses here. They are great and I haven't recovered from them yet. There are other experiences that losing my condo brought to me. Humiliation, aggressiveness and being looked as a liability, being a loser. I am a bad investment, a person without a family.
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03/26/2008
Dominion Law Associates Again
March 26, 2008: I got another letter from Dominion Law Associates today. They want money or they will take legal action. I wrote them a letter saying I don't have the money to pay. I just don't. I am so sick of this! If I had known it was going to be like this, I would have died rather than go to GA back in 2002.
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03/21/2008
Ny Times Article on Debt Collectors
March 21, 2008: I have just an article in The New York Times titled Collection Agencies Add Scarce Jobs in Hard Hit Region.
Instead of debt collectors and collection agencies giving bonuses and other prizes to those who get the most out of people in debt, why not make it easier for people to not have debt? I know that it's all about money, but in my experience debt collectors have crossed the line. And if a person has no money to pay, why keep trying to make them? Why keep trying to have them write checks they can't afford to write? Even if they wanted, debt collectors cannot have compassion because then they've have no jobs.
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03/18/2008
Money
Tuesday, March 18, 2008: It's money, money, money! Can someone please tell me how I am supposed to give to others when I don't have for myself? Those others include creditors with expiring Statutes of Limitations, creditors coming after me when I am at the most vulnerable point in my life. I feel that everybody wants a piece of me, a tiny little piece or a bigger dollar slice, even when I have none to give.
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03/08/2008
Dominion Law Associates Offer
March 8, 2008: I got a letter from Dominion Law Associates in VA. Beach, VA with a settlement offer in the amount of $3,890.00. I don't have the money. The consequences of my GA foreclosure are still hitting me hard. I wish they weren't, but they are. I know they won't understand. Their client, Discover card, won't either. But it's the truth. If I did send Discover a check back in 2005, I don't remember. There was too much going on that year. My condo was in danger and my dog Rubio was very, very ill.
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02/27/2008
Foreclosure- Related NY Times Letter
Dear Editor, I have just read the Foreclosure Aid Rising Locally, As Is Dissent article in today's NY Times and I am sad to read about people who don't think helping others finding themselves in mortgage trouble is a good thing. Troubled mortgage holders are taxpayers and they live in the US. If they need their government to help them out, why is that help being criticized? Perhaps their critics don't believe that the mortgage crisis will ever happen to them. It can. Would they come to the aid of a family member if that person were facing foreclosure or would they look the other way? Would they want help if they got letters upon letters from their mortgage company and collection agencies? Do they know how it feels to be on the brink of financial disaster? I can tell you from first hand experience that it is one of the worst experiences a human being can have. Nobody deserves that. Not having a roof over your head destroys you not only financially, but psychologically as well.
Not only are the people in trouble fellow Americans, they are also members of the human race. Eugenia Renskoff
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02/26/2008
Obnoxious
February 26, 2008: This afternoon I called Dominion Law Associates, Attorneys at Law in Virginia Beach, VA. They sent me a letter, threatening to sue and I wanted to tell them that I had written them and received no reponse. I also asked the date of the last activity on the Discovery card. All I can say is: Obnoxious. The fact that I have no money to pay means nothing.
Being honest does not help. I can't agree to a payment plan because I wouldn't be able to fulfill the terms of the agreement.
The debt, if it is mine, is over 2 years old. I have dealt with foreclosure, among other goodies. Enough already!
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Back to be Sued
February 26, 2008: I have come back to the US to be sued. That's what it looks like because now Discover card wants to have a crack at me. I don't have the answer. I don't have the money.
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02/25/2008
The Way Before
February 25, 2008: I long for it to be the way it was before--before I had the misfortune of going to GA and buying that horrible condo. I miss the days when nobody wanted to sue me, when I was invisible because of my excellent 754 credit score.
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02/13/2008
American Express Violation
Hello, In late December American Express wrote me a letter offering a settlement on my credit card debt. The amount of the debt was $1.057.20. The settlement was for about $600. I wrote them saying that I wanted them to cease communicating with me regarding this debt. I was unemployed and had lost my home to foreclosure. On January 16, 2008, they sent me a response telling me that they had received my Cease and Desist letter. They would stop collection efforts, but could go to litigation. Last week I received a phone call from American Express asking me why I had not paid the $1,057.20. This week, I got two more such phone calls. Tomorrow I am sending them another letter reminding them about their letter to me saying they would cease all collection efforts and pointing out to them that they probably have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Eugenia Renskoff
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02/11/2008
Collecting?
February 11, 2008: Each and everytime somebody from a credit card company calls and wants to know what to do about my account, what do I tell them? The truth. And it pains me to do that because then I am reminded again of all that has happened to bring me to this point in my life. The mortgage fraud issue. That's the main thing, then living on charity. I hate that, but there is nothing else to do at this moment. It all started in 2002 and it's still going on. Till when? Till I drop dead from sheer exhaustion?
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02/03/2008
My Mortgage Fraud Struggle
Sunday, February 3, 2008: It seems like an endless and fruitless fight. But I will persevere. Losing my home due to predatory lending and mortgage fraud has been a horrible experience. It has changed my life and made me look and feel and behave at least 20 years older. I cannot believe that it has happened to a person like me, someone already so vulnerable.I have written letters to many organizations and have received no response. It feels like I'm invisible, like my experience does not count. That is very unfair. This is why I will keep on knocking on doors, why I want to be heard and listened to.
I have lost things that cannot be recovered very easily.
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01/25/2008
Open Credit Card Letter
Dear Credit Card Companies,
You want to sue me. At least, you are threatening to sue me. You are sending letters written by law office employees. Whether those debts are actually mine or not, the answer is still this: I have no money.And if I owe you the money, I want to know what it is that I charged with my cards. For the past few years, I have been busy struggling with mortgage fraud and foreclosure. They have taken up all of my time. I have had no rest, no peace because of them.
You have no idea what it's like to go from an excellent credit score to having to read your letters. It is unbelievable to me that this is my situation now. Your letters are all too real.
I have gone over them several times and I try to understand my options. It seems that I have none.Nothing protects me, no law, no person, no defense. Not having a job at the moment is not good enough. And no, I cannot borrow the cash. There is no one who will do that for me.
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Don't Need Another Lawsuit
Friday, January 25, 2008: Yesterday I got 2 more letters from credit card company lawyers threatening to sue me. I do not need this. I do not have the money to pay them, even if the credit charges are mine. After I lost my GA condo, I thought nothing worse could happen to me, but I see how wrong I was.
Being a victim of mortgage fraud was not bad enough. Now I have this to struggle with.
My feelings do not count. It is very surreal. My life has changed since I was unfortunate enough to go to GA.It's like I'm in the middle of my own horrible nightmare.
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01/11/2008
GA Condo
January 11, 2008: 68 Fahrenheit. Rained this afternoon in Norfolk, VA. No wonder I feel bad. The GA condo fiasco is not over yet. It may have more financial repercussions. As if I need that on top of everything else that's happened already. And to pretend that everything is fine, that there will be a way out, a solution that will not make me cry and wince or have me wish I were dead. Playing a part I don't feel like playing--for the sake of others, for my own sake. That is no good, either because the pressure, the tension is tremendous. It is tearing me apart.
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10/19/2007
Letter to NY Times
I have read today´s op-ed by Sheila Bair and I agree. Rates should be lowered. Not everyone has equity to help them refinance. In my own case, there were two loans for a $170,000 condo in Atlanta, GA. One of these loans was for $134,000 at 9.75%. the other for $36,000 at 13%. I tried refinancing time and time again, but shortly I bought the condo, I found out that I had overpaid by at least $20,000, so refi was not an option. Unfortunately, my condo foreclosed in November 2005.
I urge those people who have no equity to call their lender and do everything possible in order to save their homesI did, but at that time there was no talk of a mortgage crisis, subprime or otherwise. Foreclosure is a terrible thing. It affects a person, that person´s family not only financially but also psychologically and emotionally. It is not something that a person can get over quickly. Sometimes you never get over it. I know that I am still struggling and I do not others to struggle. Eugenia Renskoff
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