Some relief for victims of foreclosures

(CBS News) LOS ANGELES - Some Americans wronged by foreclosure could be due some money. However, they'll have to move fast.

Seventy-four-year-old Dorothy Patton raised her seven children in a south Los Angeles house.

"I wanted to live and enjoy my home," she said. "And then when I get ready to enjoy, it's taken away."

She was living alone after her husband died in 2007. She said that's when Bank of America approached her with a new mortgage and a $110,000 home equity line of credit. She didn't understand her payments would jump $1,200 a month.

Patton and her bank could not work out a loan modification. She lost her home to foreclosure.

"I was cheated," she said. "I was cheated out of my home."

Patton is applying to the federal Independent Foreclosure Review program. The government ordered 14 big banks to take part in the program after it was discovered they improperly processed foreclosure paperwork or made other misrepresentations about mortgage terms. Harmed homeowners can be compensated up to $125,000.

But critics like New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez complain the banks control the review process.

"Who they choose are very often lawyers and consultants who have worked with the bank before," said Menendez. "And so it's a little bit of the fox watching the chicken coop."

The Office of the Comptroller, which oversees the program, told us "independence has been a priority."

Others complain that few people even know about the program. Only 10 percent of the 4.4-million eligible homeowners have enrolled.

West Angeles Community Development Corporation held one of nine workshops around the country this month where people like Dorothy Patton signed up.

"We know that there are thousands more -- hundreds of thousands more out there," said Tunua Thrash of West Angeles Community Development Corporation, "not only in Los Angeles, but certainly in California and around the country."

"I'm hoping and praying that it will help," said Patton. "There are so many of us out there."

The deadline to sign up has been pushed back three times. With the response so low, critics say it should be pushed back again.

[Seusssaysitbest]

For those who would like to know if they qualify for this help, here is the website: https://independentforeclosurereview.com/
I wish you the best of luck in your financial struggles.

For those of you who wish to make derogatory comments towards people with foreclosure troubles, I wish you the best of luck in your inward struggles. Peace.

[mh122779]

Where do i go to get in on this? This is the 1st I have heard of this program and would like to know if we qualify! We live in Illinois do we qualify?

[shedevil50]

Well, I had never heard of this program until tonight. So I went to the site and for what ever reason I was unable to get online to fill out a form, so, I called the number provided. Let me tell you I sat on hold for 1 hour and 34 minutes, only to be told they were closed.... Trust me when I tell you, I will be back on the phone in the morning. I will be one really upset person if I can't speak to someone so I can at least check to see if I qualify.

[desolationpress]

I lost my home in a short sale right before the foreclosure deadline. The only bright spot was an open ended question on the Independent Foreclosure Review Form asking me to describe "any other way I may have been financially injured by the foreclosure process."

After composing my response, I sent hard copies to the Independent Reviewer, the House and Senate Finance committees, and the chief executives of PNC. I also posted it on my website:

See http://www.desolationpress.com/essays/indreview.html

After a day or so of reflection, I thought it might serve as a good template for others to use.

See http://www.desolationpress.com/essays/testimony.html

I encourage people to complete the form, and send their story to members of Congress. A few truckloads of letters might give them a better sense of the magnitude of the issue.

As they keep extending the deadline for this process, I'm starting to doubt that anyone will receive any real compensation for their loss. The banks have firmly established that they won't admit any culpability for their actions, so our best bet may be to publicly shame them into some sort of confession. Perhaps we should make them wait for a year or two before they receive their next taxpayer bailout.

[elt5312]

Your story was disgusting. Why didn't you give all the facts. Did someone hold a gun to her head to make her sign for a new mortgage and home equity loan? Did she use the home equity loan? Is the concept that when you add $110,000 to your mortgage that your monthly payments go up. Obviously, this concept is too complicated for either this woman or your reporter to comprehend. Did your reporter even review the loan document or did he just run with the story "Poor black woman screwed out of her home by bad bank." Is it time to institute a literacy test before anyone can sign a financial document? It seems very convenient to say "I was cheated, I didn't understand they wanted me to pay the money back."

[16kaiser]

How can I apply

[vsmit]

Does she get to pocket the money she took? Of course.

[Engineer321]

I will believe it when, I see results.