"Pick-a-pay" mortgage left Massachusetts couple on brink of foreclosure. I-Team's Call For Action saved them.
An elderly couple in Lynn, Massachusetts was just days away from being evicted from their home after their bank foreclosed on it. They turned to the WBZ-TV I-Team's Call For Action for help.
After nearly 10 years of fighting to save their home, the Cavalieres were ready to give up and began packing up.
"It's been a whole life in the last 23 years, 24 years," Kathy Cavaliere told the I-Team. "This has been the center of our family. All holidays, all get togethers. And it was going to be gone within days."
The bank foreclosed on the couple's property and they were being evicted. Kathy's husband Joe Cavaliere is 85. He said they ran into financial trouble after he got sick several years ago.
"I was out of work for a little while and then I got laid off and we fell behind on the mortgage payments. So, we sent them $5,000 to catch up and they said they wanted the whole thing, which was somewhere around $400,000."
"Pick-a-pay" mortgage
The Cavalieres troubles started in 2006 when Joe took out what was called a "pick-a-pay" mortgage with World Savings Bank. He was told to pick how much money he wanted to pay every month. What he did not know, was that the interest would continue to add up and pretty soon Joe and Kathy owed more than they could afford.
"It was insane as a product, and it was to get people lower on the economic scale to buy homes under predatory mortgages that would end up yielding profits to the lenders and honestly, foreclosure to the borrowers," said the Cavalieres attorney, Paul Collier.
Shortly after Joe took out the mortgage, World Saving Bank's parent company merged with Wachovia Corporation. Wachovia later merged with Wells Fargo, which acquired Joe's mortgage loan.
Unable to make their mortgage payments, the bank foreclosed on the Cavalieres home, and they were being forced out.
"'It was really scary," Kathy said "I was afraid of what it might do to my husband."
Joe was worried too.
"We're living on Social Security I don't have a 401k. I got a little pension from the VA because I got hurt in the service," he said.
Desperate with nowhere else to turn and the clock ticking, Kathy contacted the I-Team's Call For Action. "Whenever you called me and said send the paperwork and when you got back to me, I cried," Kathy said.
I-Team gets involved
After the I-Team got involved, we contacted Wells Fargo, and the bank decided to give the property back to Joe and Kathy.
Kathy says they were shocked. Wells Fargo sent a letter to the Cavalieres saying they're going to receive the title to their home in May and that they once again own their house.
"This is what Cheryl Fiandaca has done for us. I don't know how, but she did," Kathy said.
In a statement Wells Fargo told the I-Team:
"We have been working with Mr. Cavaliere since 2011 to help him navigate this situation. We have been committed to finding a resolution and are pleased to have this resolved. Pick-a-pay loans were never offered by Wells Fargo. We inherited the Cavaliere loan as part of an acquisition in 2008."
"It felt like a miracle"
"I don't believe in miracles, but it felt like a miracle. I could never have accomplished that result, and you folks did it in a matter of weeks," Collier said.
The Cavalieres are grateful to Call for Action, knowing that they will now be able to stay in their home as long as they want to.
In 2010, Wells Fargo agreed to a $50 million settlement in a class action lawsuit involving the "pick a pay" loans it acquired. The settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing. As part of the foreclosure case, Joe also received a financial settlement from the bank.
If you have a consumer issue you need help with email Call for Action at wbzcallforaction@cbs.com.
