Staying Alive And Keeping Homes
Neither the Veterans Affairs nor the Pentagon bothers to track the amount of families in the military who stand to lose their homes while fighting overseas. “The Army as a whole has seen an increase in soldiers and families seeking assistance for mortgage foreclosures,” says Army Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, citing data from branch legal offices trying to advise soldiers. But the USAA, a financial services company in San Antonio serves military families and their families. While refusing to state actual numbers, the company has said that there are seeing an increase.
While on a third combat mission in Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Escamilla was forced to hassle with his lender, Aurora Loan Services (based in Colorado), from the battlefield. The mortgage lender is going out of business after an interoffice announcement today that they will be laying off over 1300 loan officers and other personnel.
“Not only do I have to worry about staying alive, but now I got to worry about whether or not my family’s going to get kicked out of the house,” Escamilla says of the long-distance haggling last fall. His $967 house payment increased to over $3,000 a few weeks ago. He finished his tour December 31, but the foreclosure fight got worse for his family of three children and a wife.
After a USA Today inquiry last week into Aurora’s parent company, Lehman Bros., Escamilla was notified that his payment was adjusted to the original amount and all penalties and fees removed.
“Anybody who’s defending our nation should not be subject to this,” says Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat who chairs the House Veterans Affairs Committee. He has sponsored legislation to address the problem. “Right now the VA home loan program is basically irrelevant to the crisis,” Filner says.
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