Family Loses Belongings One Week After Moving Into Home Due To Foreclosure Contractor, Lender Screw Up

In Cedar Park, Texas, the Austin American Statesman reports:

• A Nigerian couple who immigrated to Austin a decade ago thought they had finally made it in America. On May 7, they closed on their first home in the States, buying a $283,000 Cedar Park house that had been headed for foreclosure. [...] But on May 14, they came home from work at their janitorial services company to find that all their furniture, family heirlooms, personal photos, clothes, even their daughter's piggybank, had disappeared.

• After filing a theft report with the Cedar Park Police Department, the Dicksons were given the news. In a mix-up over whether the home was still facing foreclosure, Field Asset Services was hired to drill open the doors and seize the belongings. [...] Cedar Park police officials said Field Asset Services told them that it carried out orders from a mortgage firm and that the Dicksons' belongings had been donated to area thrift shops. But a search of such shops turned up nothing.

For more, see Seizure of belongings leaves new homeowners baffled, angry.

For story updates, see:

• Field Asset issues apology in seizure of belongings (Company that seized family's household items says it's sorry),
• Cedar Park couple sues Austin company in foreclosure mix-up: (Bobo and Joy Dickson are suing Field Asset Services Inc. for failing to return their property. The lawsuit seeks money for the lost property plus compensatory damages, and called the company's conduct "malicious, callous and wanton." EMC Mortgage Corp., the Lewisville company that held the previous owner's loans, has apologized to the Dicksons. On Monday, EMC's parent company, banking giant JPMorgan Chase, also apologized.)

For an earlier post involving a similar type of mishap, reportedly also involving Field Asset Services, see Foreclosure Services Firm Targets Wrong Home; Locks Changed, Valuables Missing, Home In Disarray.

Go here for other posts on foreclosure services companies who have improperly changed locks, remove belongings, etc. ForeclosureLockOuts