Nagula: A Second Chance

Nagula worked twelve hour shifts, often starting in the middle of the night. She saved her money, invested conservatively and eventually bought a home. Her hours fluctuated with the economy, so she took overtime whenever it was offered – even though it meant less time with her family.

In 2007, she and her husband divorced. She kept the house but had to cash out the equity she had sacrificed so much to build. When she signed her new loan documents, the housing market was near its peak.

The crash that followed devastated her home’s value, but Nagula was still working steadily and stayed current on her mortgage. As the recession dragged on, however, her hours dropped and opportunities for overtime were scarce. By January of 2009 she had been laid off.

Nagula’s severance and unemployment kept her current in the short term, but she needed a permanent solution. She enrolled in accounting classes at Clark College, training for a new career. When she heard about the Making Home Affordable program, she assembled her papers and applied for a loan modification.

For the next seven months, Nagula got the runaround from her lender. One department was contacting her weekly for more and more documentation. At the same time, she was getting calls from the collections department threatening her with foreclosure and bullying her into adding her mother to the note. Meanwhile, her mailbox was filling up with letters from “lawyers” in California who were guaranteeing her modifications for a $5,000 fee.

When her lender finally denied her modification request, Nagula came to a mortgage default prevention orientation at the Community Housing Resource Center. She signed up for counseling, and we contacted her lender. It took escalating the application, but our counselors helped her secure a modification that cut her monthly payment in half.

Nagula’s graduation is a few months away. She knows finding a job will be challenging in this economy, but with her mortgage payment reduced, she can afford to work her way up in a new career – especially if it means a more traditional work schedule. Missing more time with her two kids is the only cost she won’t pay the second time around.