My Name Is IndyMac
As people wait in line for their turn at talking to counselors, they get nametags to hang around their necks. Only the tags identify which lender holds their loan, instead of who they are. So the sidewalk, and the lobby, and the hallways, are filled with people displaying tags around their necks saying "IndyMac" or "Countrywide" instead of "Hi! I’m Steve."
How nerve-wracking is it to be here? Brenda Thomas of Charles County, Md., waiting in line, tugs at her hair and says, "Do you see this gray hair on me? I’m only 53."
Thomas is in a particular quandary, because when she tried to refinance, the lender told her she doesn’t make enough income. She’s a tough case, and that’s the point of today, NACA counselor William Whitehouse says.
The mortgage rescue plan in Congress won’t cover all the people who need help, and it will not reach out to the hardest cases - to people a week or a month away from foreclosure, with ruined credit and not enough income. That’s why NACA says people have shown up from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. And why they expect to be here again, until midnight.
"We’re trying to show that there’s a right way to do this," Whitehouse said. "People deserve a place to live. The bill in Congress this week will cut out a lot of people. We’re not cutting out anybody."
