[Vision2020] Bank of America: The Grinch that Stole . . .

[Tom Hansen]

"All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son's ski medals, winter
clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top
inscribed with the words 'Together Forever,' that contained the ashes of
her late husband, Robert."

Courtesy of The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) at:

http://www.startribune.com/business/112288459.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiacyKUnciatkEP7DhUr

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Bank took it all - even her late husband's ashes
A lawsuit alleges Bank of America wrongfully foreclosed on a woman's
California home without telling her first.

By ANDREW MARTIN, New York Times

TRUCKEE, CALIF. - When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a
weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and
changed the locks.

When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions
were gone: furniture, her son's ski medals, winter clothes and family
photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words
"Together Forever," that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.

According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ash, Bank of America
had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings,
without alerting Ash beforehand.

In an era when millions of homes have been foreclosed on nationwide, more
and more lawsuits detailing bank break-ins like the one at Ash's house
have surfaced. And in the wake of the scandal involving shoddy, sometimes
illegal paperwork that has buffeted the nation's biggest banks in recent
months, critics argue that these situations serve to reinforce their
contentions that the foreclosure process is fundamentally flawed.

Banks and their representatives insist that situations like Ash's
represent just a tiny percentage of foreclosures. But identifying the
number of homeowners who were locked out illegally is difficult, and many
claims are in dispute.

During the California real estate boom, Ash and her husband, Robert,
thrived. Ash bought the house in Truckee in 2003. Two years later, he was
stabbed to death in a road-rage incident near Truckee.

>From there, Ash's troubles with the Truckee house became tangled in her
worsening financial situation and, she claims, the bungling of the bank,
originally Countrywide Financial, which was bought by Bank of America in
2008.

She intended to assume the mortgage on the house, which landed in probate
court after her husband's death. The bank required that she catch up on
payments and taxes, so she sent a check for $15,000.

Hearing nothing from the bank for many months and not having ownership of
the house, she made no more payments, she said. By the time Countrywide
reached Ash, the real estate market was collapsing along with her
finances, so she sought a loan modification.

When Countrywide issued a default notice in 2007, it went to the wrong
address, her lawsuit says. Later, Ash said, the bank assured her it would
not foreclose while she pursued the loan modification.

Even so, the bank conducted a foreclosure sale on the property in May
2008. Again, Ash said she had not been notified and learned of the sale
during a summer visit. She said she had been told the sale would be
rescinded.

Near Halloween, work crews broke in and cleaned out the place, taking
Persian rugs, china, furniture bought on a trip in Peru, skis, photos of
her marriage and childhood in Iran. Her husband's ashes were taken from
the couple's master bedroom.

A bank spokeswoman, Jumana Bauwens, said, "We take the allegations made by
Ms. Ash very seriously and are thoroughly researching her claims."

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Happy Holiday, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown