Released: June 26, 2008

Homeowners fight for their mortgage rights

Source: Kevin McCoy, USA Today

Beset by financial problems in 2002, Eunice Anderson fell months behind in the mortgage payments on her four-bedroom ranch in Redford Township, Mich., near Detroit.

Anderson, 48, a medical insurance auditor, says she was unable to refinance or negotiate a relief plan with her lender, Countrywide Financial (CFC). Facing foreclosure, she filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition that let her keep her home while she paid more than $11,000 in debt.

She emerged from bankruptcy three years later with a court-filed certification that she had paid in full. But weeks later, Countrywide notified Anderson she still owed more than $10,000 in late payments and other fees, and threatened to foreclose.

She’s now a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that seeks class-action status and alleges that Countrywide, the nation’s largest home lender, disregarded bankruptcy-court rules by billing for unwarranted fees.

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