War Stories From the Predatory Lending Battlefield

The Chicago Sun Times recently published four stories on Chicago homeowners who have been allegedly ripped off by predatory lenders and who have taken to the courts to save their homes. For the stories, see:

• Alleged mortgage scam lands in Obama's backyard (Tommie and Louise Harris, who live behind the Obamas, say they're victims of a mortgage repair scam that nearly cost them their Kenwood home of 44 years. They recently won a federal court settlement against a broker who they say sweet-talked them into taking on mortgage debt that rose from $142,000 to $500,000 in less than a year);

• Loan to fix garage leaves her owing $154K (Alzheimers' patient Rosa Dailey, 66, has filed a federal lawsuit against CitiMortgage, a subsidiary of CitiResidential, which bought out Argent Mortgage. She's fighting foreclosure on the home her parents bought in 1972);

• How she wound up $125K in debt (At 90, Anna Nelson has spent some of her last months worrying about paying a mortgage on a home she has lived in for more than 40 years. Her lawyer, William Spielberger, said she has been targeted because of her trusting nature -- and age. "The fact is that there was a great deal of money that was loaned, and she never got it," Spielberger said);

• Predators target minorities, elderly ('VICIOUS CYCLE' Before they know it, they're buried in debt -- but a federal court ruling offers new hope; Dorothy Davis, 76, has taken her case to federal court, where a judge just ruled she can sue Wells Fargo -- the bank that bought her loan -- on the claim that she was targeted because she's minority).