Local Homeowners Play Waiting Game At Loan Modification Event

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - On the same day that a $25 billion mortgage settlement was announced involving states and five big banks, local homeowners continued to line up at the Sacramento Convention Center looking for help -- right now -- to avoid foreclosure.

"I've been working with the bank for a year and a half and they keep saying they're not getting this paperwork, that paperwork," Susan Moore said Thursday in day two of the loan modification event being put on by Wells Fargo.

If her situation doesn't change soon Moore said matter-of-factly, "My kids and I and my mother-in-law will be out on the street."

She is one of 11,000 struggling local homeowners invited to the workshop. She needs a loan modification -- and is a year and a half behind on her mortgage.

"But that's not entirely my fault," she said. "The bank won't take any payments. They say once the modification is approved, they'll start taking my payments."

A few tables down Steve Watras didn't sound too optimistic.

"Well I guess I'm one of those people who're what, underwater?" he said.

He's been through this before. His home is worth a quarter of what it was when he bought it six years ago. He's been living paycheck to paycheck and explained with frustration why he's been turned down in the past.

"I've never missed a payment, never been late on a payment, but the two previous times I tried this those were the two reasons I didn't qualify," he said.

Steve says he's been advised by some to simply walk away. But he's not ready to give up his home. He says he likes it too much.

"There's a million people in the same other boat I am," he said.

Susan hasn't made a payment in 18 months. Steve's never missed one. But they both know not everyone will walk away Thursday with a break from the bank.

Wells Fargo says about one in four homeowners will receive some sort of modification at the workshop. The event runs until 7 p.m. Thursday night.