Tyrone Lobo

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/22/worried_homeowners_share_their_high_interest_stories?mode=PF

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Worried homeowners share their high-interest stories National effort to battle lenders hits Jamaica Plain By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | April 22, 2007 Tyrone Lobo, 34, quit his job last month as a deputy in the Barnstable Sheriff's Department so he could cash in his pension and use the roughly $30,000 to save his house. He and his fiancée hoped that the drastic decision would buy time and keep them afloat, anything to prevent their four-bedroom Cape-style home in Falmouth from being auctioned off. Yesterday, the couple and more than 50 other Massachusetts homeowners at risk of losing their properties shared their stories at a meeting at the state headquarters of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America in Jamaica Plain. The gathering was part of a national effort by the nonprofit community advocacy and homeownership organization to form a grassroots campaign against subprime lenders. Similar meetings occurred in 32 other NACA offices around the country. Lobo and his fiancee, Melissa Hergt, 39, had seen their monthly mortgage payment jump from just under $800 in 2002 to $2,700 last fall because of previous refinancing to stave off a previous foreclosure, they said. "We got to take on the fight to stop you from losing your home and to hold the people in the scheme out there accountable" Bruce Marks, the organization's chief executive officer, told Lobo and others. Dressed in a mustard yellow T-shirt with a shark logo and red lettering that said "Stop Loan Sharks," Marks said, "We're not violent, but we're a confrontational advocacy company." Comparing subprime lenders and brokers to roaches, he told the crowd to be prepared to confront chief executives of major lending companies in the executives' communities, in front of their homes, country clubs, or areas of business. The group also agreed to a sit-in in Governor Deval Patrick's office until he calls Ameriquest Mortgage Co., where many of the homeowners have loans, to stop foreclosures and modify people's loans. Some banks have said they are trying to help borrowers in trouble and engage in responsible subprime lending. One by one yesterday, homeowners stood and told horror stories of how their payments on their adjustable-rate mortgages doubled or tripled. Some said they repeatedly turned to subprime mortgage companies as quick fixes to save their homes. "I walked the same road, pretty much knowingly, again and again," said one man who did not want his name published for fear of embarrassing his children. "For people with limited resources, it's pretty hard to break the cycle." Lobo's and Hergt's housing troubles began after Hergt's parents died and the couple took on the payments in 2002 at an affordable $775 a month. They said they decided to refinance with Option One Mortgage Corp. and take on a $192,000 loan to remodel the kitchen, pay off credit cards, and help Hergt's son pay for college. That decision increased their monthly mortgage to $1,500, which the couple could still afford. But then Lobo suffered a back injury from a second job loading milk crates at a local grocery store and was out of work for three months. Hergt, who worked at a Falmouth pet store, lost her job when the store went out of business. They fell behind in their mortgage payments, and the house, where Hergt and her children have lived for 16 years, went up for auction. They said they were able to hold off the foreclosure by refinancing with Tribeca Lending Corp. at 12.8 percent interest, double what they were charged before, but bumping their monthly mortgage to $2,700. They couldn't afford it. "It was the only deal on the table to save the house in that amount of time," Lobo said. "It's been a struggle every month." Neither lending institution could be reached for comment yesterday. The couple hopes Lobo's pension will help them catch up on their mortgage payments. "We're worried that any day they're going to start the foreclosure again," Lobo said. "I'm hoping that these guys will do something to help us get a fresh start." Marks said his organization has committed $1 billion to help families like Lobo and Hergt refinance at the best possible fixed rate, currently 5.375 percent for a 30-year mortgage. "You just feel like you're the only one going through this," Hergt said, "but hearing all those stories in there was comforting in a way."

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