Elderly Woman Almost Loses House

According to AOL Real Estate, an elderly woman almost lost her house because she missed her final mortgage payment. The payment was for $432, and the elderly lady was in the hospital. She decided to press charges against the two banks and a law firm that tried to put her home in foreclosure. Dorothy Allen, 85 years old, had borrowed $40,000 back in 1976 to buy her house and had one payment left to make on her mortgage. She was hospitalized in 2006 and the house went into default. It's at that time, the banks and law firm went forth with trying to foreclose the house. The $432 mortgage payment, bubbled up to $5,797 because of late fees, penalties and other charges. This is really a sad story, but it can serve as an example. Banks have no mercy when it comes to homeowners.

The elderly woman could have taken steps in order to prevent forgetting or missing her mortgage payment. First, there are electronic reminders. If you're still hanging on to placing a piece of paper on your refrigerator door as a reminder, maybe it's time to go electronic. You can simply use the calendar option on any basic cell phone, or if you have a Blackberry there are many applications available to you. If you're not technologically inclined then you can use an auto bill payment. Banks can issue checks on your behalf, or even you can authorize a creditor to debit your account each month to pay your bills.

Everybody 18 years or older should have a Power of Attorney in case they become incapacitated. Power of attorney documents are not very expensive and are very important, especially for the elderly. These documents give someone else the power to take care of your affairs if you're not able to. Mrs. Allen could also have informed some close friends or relatives about her mortgage payment. This way, she could have directed a friend or relative to take care of the payment for her. Social workers at hospitals could also mention these issues to family members if they're hospitalized for more than a week. This way a family member or close friend could have gone to the elderly woman's house to check her mail and all of this could have been avoided.

If you're buying a house in Maryland, make sure to take the necessary steps to avoid missing a mortgage payment. If you want to have a pleasant move, call the local Maryland movers, your local Maryland moving company, to help you move. Our moving company is family-owned and operated with over four generations of moving experience! So if you're planning to buy a new house or simply move in to another, call us today. Our Maryland moving specialists are here to cover your every moving and storage need.

Tags: