Atlanta Homeowner Gets Legal Aid Help In Fighting Off Wachovia Predatory Loan Foreclosure

In Atlanta, Georgia, WGCL-TV Channel 46 reports:

• [A]vonia Carson will never forget the day she and her husband made their last payment on the house they bought in 1971. [...] But a few years ago, after adding on a new den and accumulating some other debt after the death of her husband, Carson answered an advertisement from Wachovia bank to try to get her debt payments down. She borrowed against her home and even though she brings in just $1,200 a month through social security, Wachovia gave her a loan with a payment of $900 a month, which amounts to 75 percent of her income. She's now on the verge of losing her home.

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• Carson feels guilty for not knowing what she was signing. "We people need to be educated a little bit more about the practices of banks,” said Carson. Bill Brennan's group at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society has now taken on Carson's case free of charge. "Ms. Carson has nothing to feel guilty about," said Brennan. "That loan should have never been made by Wachovia. Wachovia knew exactly what it was doing." Carson's lawyers are in negotiations with Wachovia, but so far, no settlement has been made on the loan.

For the story, see Demonstrators Protest Predatory Lending (Protestors Say Banks Knowingly Made Loans They Knew Couldn't be Paid).