From 848fe700f9c349fc1f7bbb111f8fa941ef077f1c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ciara Forth Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2025 23:38:49 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add Countless Veterans Face Foreclosure and it's not their Fault. the vA Might Help --- ...%27s-not-their-Fault.-the-vA-Might-Help.md | 56 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 56 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Countless-Veterans-Face-Foreclosure-and-it%27s-not-their-Fault.-the-vA-Might-Help.md diff --git a/Countless-Veterans-Face-Foreclosure-and-it%27s-not-their-Fault.-the-vA-Might-Help.md b/Countless-Veterans-Face-Foreclosure-and-it%27s-not-their-Fault.-the-vA-Might-Help.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7daad17 --- /dev/null +++ b/Countless-Veterans-Face-Foreclosure-and-it%27s-not-their-Fault.-the-vA-Might-Help.md @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +[jamesedition.com](https://www.jamesedition.com/real_estate/des-moines-ia-usa)
Countless veterans deal with [foreclosure](https://realestategrupo.com) and it's not their fault. The VA could assist
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By Chris Arnold, Robert Benincasa
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Updated Thursday, November 16, 2023 • 9:53 AM EST
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Heard on Morning Edition
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Becky Queen remembers opening the letter with the foreclosure notice.
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"My heart dropped," she said, "and my hands were shaking."
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Queen survives on a little farm in rural Oklahoma with her partner, Ray, and their 2 young kids. Ray is a U.S. Army veteran who was injured in Iraq. Since the 1940s, the federal government has actually helped veterans like him buy homes through its VA loan program, run by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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And now the VA has put this household on the edge of losing their house.
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"I didn't do anything incorrect," states Ray Queen. "The only thing I did was trust a business that I'm expected to trust with my mortgage."
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Like countless other Americans, the Queens made the most of what's called a COVID mortgage forbearance, which enabled property owners to avoid mortgage payments. It was established by Congress after the pandemic hit for individuals who lost income.
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But an NPR examination has actually found that [countless](https://dominicarealestate767.com) [veterans](https://inngoaholidays.com) who took a [forbearance](https://topdom.rs) are now at danger of losing their homes through no fault of their own. And while the VA is working on a method to fix the issue, for many it could be too late.
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After NPR at first published this story, a group of four U.S. Senators sent a letter to the VA asking it to right away stop [foreclosing](https://novavistaholdings.com) on the homes of veterans and servicemembers. It's [unclear](https://hauntley.com) if the VA will do that.
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For the Queens, this all begun in September of 2021, when Becky's mom passed away of COVID-19. She needed to take a prolonged leave from work and lost her task.
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So last year, with their savings diminishing, the couple says they called the company that manages their mortgage, Mr. Cooper, and were informed they could skip 6 months of payments. And as soon as they returned on their feet and could begin paying again, the couple says they were told, they would not owe the missed payments in a huge swelling sum.
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"I extremely particularly asked 'how does this work?'" states Becky Queen. "They stated we're taking all of your payments, we're bundling them, and we're putting them at the end."
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That is, the [missed payments](https://multiplanet.ae) would be moved to the back end of their loan term so they might just start making their regular mortgage payment again.
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But that's not how it worked out.
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In October 2022, the Department of Veterans Affairs ended the so-called Partial Claim Payment program, or PCP, that allowed property owners to do that. This took place although the mortgage market, [housing advocates](https://lewisandcorealty.ca) and veterans groups all cautioned the VA not to end the program, saying countless house owners required to capture up on missed out on payments. Rates of interest had risen a lot that many couldn't manage to refinance or get back on track any other way.
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Ray Queen says nobody told him about any of this.
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"How does that happen?" Queen asked. "This is supposed to be a program that you all have to help individuals in times of crisis, so you do not take their house from them."
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The Queens say they tried to come off their forbearance in February of this year and resume paying their mortgage. They were both working once again. But they faced hold-ups with the mortgage company.
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Then, in September, the couple says they were told they needed to come up with more than $22,000, which they do not have, or either sell their house or get [foreclosed](https://tammrealestate.ae) on.
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Their mortgage servicing company, Mr. Cooper, said in a statement it "explored every possible avenue to overcome a solution for this client." But it said the VA requires much better loss-mitigation alternatives and referred NPR to a letter from advocates, industry and veteran groups urging the VA to restart the PCP program.
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The VA "has really let people down"
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"The Department of Veterans Affairs has truly let individuals down," says Kristi Kelly, a consumer attorney in Virginia who says she is speaking with a lot of other veterans in the very same circumstance as Ray and Becky Queen.
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"The house owners participated in COVID forbearances, they were made particular promises, and there were particular representations that were made," states Kelly. "And the VA essentially pulled the rug out from under everyone."
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For some house owners, ending the program might not mean foreclosure, but it still suggests a monetary hardship.
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"Many of these people have 2 or 3% rates of interest loans," Kelly states. With the PCP program they might keep that interest rate. And now, she says, the only method they'll be able to save their home is to enter into a loan adjustment where the rates of interest will be around today's market rate of 7.5%.
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"For many people, their payments will increase by $600 or $700 a month, because the VA has actually decided to end the partial claim program."
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Many homeowners can't manage such a big increase in their regular monthly payment.
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According to the data company ICE Mortgage Technology, 6,000 property owners with VA loans who had actually COVID forbearances are currently in the foreclosure process. And 34,000 more are overdue.
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Kelly says most other property owners in America - people with FHA loans, for instance, or loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - still have methods to avoid foreclosure by moving missed out on payments to the back of the loan term.
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But house owners with VA loans don't, because the VA ended that program. So veterans are being dealt with worse than a lot of other homeowners, Kelly stated.
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"Service members remain in a position where they're going to lose their home," she states. "And for a lot of individuals, that's everything they work for - and all their wealth remains in their homes."
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VA has a plan to help, but it might be far too late
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The Department of [Veterans Affairs](https://royalestatesdxb.com) says it had no choice however to end the program.
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"We had a short-term authority for that particular program throughout COVID," says John Bell, executive director of the Veterans Benefits Administration's Loan Guaranty Service. "It wasn't part of our regular authority."
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Some in the industry believe the VA did, in reality, have the authority to extend the program. But in either case, it ended it.
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Now, however, the VA is taking the scenario seriously.
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NPR has actually learned that the VA is working on a new program to replace the old one. It will work in a different way but to [comparable](https://yes.wedding) result, to conserve people from foreclosure. Bell states it's going to take 4 to five months to get it up and running.
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That's too long for a lot of those 6,000 VA homeowners already in the foreclosure process. Not to discuss the numerous more who are delinquent.
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Already, information reveals that more VA homeowners have been heading into foreclosure considering that the VA ended its PCP program. The exact same is not true for FHA loans or loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
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Will the firetruck show up far too late?
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With so lots of house owners at risk, there's growing pressure on the VA to stop foreclosing on veterans up until it gets its repair up and running.
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"There must be a pause on foreclosures," says Steve Sharpe, a senior lawyer at the National Consumer Law Center. "Veterans must truly have the ability to have an ability to access this program when it comes online because it's been so long because they have actually had something that will really work.
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Sharpe says the VA could also reboot the PCP program that it closed down. "They have the authority to do both," he states.
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Pausing foreclosures seems like a great idea to veteran Ray Queen in Oklahoma.
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"Let us keep paying towards our routine mortgage between now and then," he says. "Then once the VA has actually that repaired we can come back and resolve the circumstance. That appears like the adult, mature thing to do, not put a family through hell."
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NPR repeated Ray Queen's plea to John Bell at the VA straight. Bell stated the VA is "checking out all alternatives at this moment in time."
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"We owe it to our veterans to make certain that we're providing every opportunity to be able to remain in the home," Bell stated.
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Wednesday, a group of U.S. Senators sent a letter to the VA advising them to put a hang on anymore foreclosures.
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"Without this time out, countless veterans and servicemembers could unnecessarily lose their homes," Sens. Sherrod Brown, Jon Tester, Jack Reed, and Tim Kaine, all Democrats, composed in a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough. "This was never ever the intent of Congress."
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Tester, of Montana, chairs the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and Brown, of Ohio, chairs the Banking Committee. They asked the VA "to execute an time out on all VA loan foreclosures where customers are likely to be qualified for VA's brand-new ... program until it is offered and borrowers can be evaluated to see if they qualify."
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Ray and Becky Queen are hoping the VA does let people keep their homes till the brand-new program can offer them a method to get existing on their mortgages. Because if the firetruck appears after your house has burned down, it's not going to do much helpful for the countless veterans and service members who need help now.
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Transcript
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LEILA FADEL, HOST: An NPR examination has actually discovered that thousands of U.S. military service members and veterans could lose their homes through no fault of their own. As NPR's Chris Arnold reports, the Department of Veterans Affairs is working on a fix. But it might be too late.CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Ray and Becky Queen are revealing us around their farm in Bartlesville, Okla.BECKY QUEEN: This is Cagney and Lacey, our ducks.ARNOLD: The couple lives here with their two young kids. Ray served in Iraq in the Army. Inside their house, he says that he was injured by an improvised explosive device, or IED.RAY QUEEN: And so you understand, I have mental retardation from my time in Iraq. So there's a great deal of different things that do not work the method they're expected to anymore. And my memory is not great.ARNOLD: For decades, the federal government's helped veterans like Queen to buy homes through its VA loan program. Today the VA has put this family on the verge of losing their house.B QUEEN: This is the letter that my husband and I received the other day mentioning that they're beginning foreclosure proceedings.ARNOLD: What's taking place is that like countless other Americans, the Queens benefited from what's called a COVID mortgage forbearance. It was set up by Congress after the pandemic hit for people who lost earnings. When Becky's mommy died of COVID, she needed to take a prolonged leave from work and lost her task. Last year, the couple says their mortgage company informed them that they could skip 6 months of payments while they returned on their feet and after that simply start paying their mortgage again.B QUEEN: I really specifically asked, how does this work? And they stated, we're taking all of your payments. We're bundling them, and we're putting them at the end.ARNOLD: That is, the missed out on payments would transfer to the back end of their loan term so they could resume their typical mortgage payment. But that is not how it worked out, because a year ago in October, the Department of Veterans Affairs ended the program that enabled house owners to do that, although housing advocates and the mortgage industry and veterans groups all alerted them not to end the program since thousands of house owners needed to catch up on missed payments. Rates of interest, too, had actually increased a lot that lots of couldn't pay for to re-finance or get back on track any other method. Ray Queen states nobody told him about any of this.R QUEEN: How does that take place? This is supposed to be a program that y' all have to assist individuals in times of crisis so you don't take their house from them.ARNOLD: The couple states in September, they were informed that they needed to come up with a big payment - upwards of $22,000, which they do not have - or offer their home or get foreclosed on.B QUEEN: My heart dropped, and, like, my hands were shaking.KRISTI KELLY: The Department of Veterans Affairs has truly let people down.ARNOLD: Kristi Kelly is a consumer legal representative in Virginia who's hearing from a great deal of veterans who are in the same boat.KELLY: The homeowners participated in COVID forbearances. They were made sure promises, and the VA essentially pulled the carpet out from under everybody.ARNOLD: Kelly says for most other property owners in America, there are still methods to move your missed out on payments to the back of the loan term so you can avoid getting foreclosed on, however not if you have a VA loan. So she states veterans are being dealt with worse than a lot of other homeowners.KELLY: Service members are going to lose their home, and for many people, that's everything they work for and all their wealth, are in their homes.ARNOLD: For its part, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it had no option but to end the program. John Bell directs the VA's home financing division.JOHN BELL: We had a short-term authority for that particular program during COVID.ARNOLD: Some in the market believe the VA did actually have the authority to extend the program. Now, though, NPR has actually learned that the VA is working on a brand-new program to replace the old one, however that's still 4 or 5 months away - too wish for a lot of the 6,000 property owners with VA loans who are in the foreclosure procedure. Not to point out there's 34,000 more who were delinquent. Right now there's pressure on the VA to put a time out on foreclosures while it gets that program running. John Bell says the VA is, quote, "thinking about all alternatives."BELL: We owe it to our veterans to make sure that we're offering them every opportunity to be able to remain in the home.ARNOLD: Ray and Becky Queen are hoping that the VA does put a time out on foreclosures, because if the fire engine appears after your house burns down, it's not going to do much great for the thousands of veterans who need assistance now.Chris Arnold, NPR News.
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