Bogus Loan Fees, Failure To Act In Good Faith Among Allegations In Elderly Ohio Couple's Attempt To Fight Foreclosure Of Home Of 40+ Years

In Stark County, Ohio, The Canton Repository reports:

• A mediator has been asked to resolve a foreclosure dispute that has come close to chasing a North Canton couple in their mid-80s from their home. Stark County Common Pleas Court Judge Taryn Heath referred a foreclosure against William and Bette Hammen to the Community Mediation Center. Representatives for the Hammens and their mortgage company are scheduled for an Oct. 29 hearing. The couple has been on the verge of losing their house several times during the past 18 months.

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• CitiMortgage launched foreclosure proceedings in February 2008 because the Hammens hadn’t paid their mortgage. [...] Since then, the couple has been declared incompetent, assigned a guardian and received legal aid. That has helped them begin to turn the tables on the foreclosure process.

• Heath moved the Hammens’ case to mediation after lawyers argued that lenders broke federal lending laws, assessed “illegal, improper or excessive” loan fees, and failed to act in good faith when creating a $100,000 mortgage and a home-equity loan for the couple in 2006. The Hammens have lived in the house since 1965. They didn’t have a mortgage until 2002, according to court filings. But since 2002, the couple has entered into three standard mortgages and three open-ended mortgages.

For the story, see North Canton couple’s foreclosure referred to mediator.