Bank of America to Mother of 7, “Get out!”
Can this family survive against the Big Bad Bear?
Shame on Bank of America, this is not the sort of behavior I want to continue supporting with my tax-dollars through bailouts.
The facts: (Press Release available here as Adobe PDF or Text Document)
Heather Yanosko is a mother of seven children who has done nothing wrong. Her husband, the father of their seven children, walked away from his family but promised as part of their separation agreement to continue paying for the family home.
He did not keep that promise.
Heather learned that the payments on the home weren’t being made when she was blindsided by a foreclosure notice. The loan was already severely behind. Unfortunately, despite it being the family home of the Yanoskos, the bank would only discuss the matter with Mr. Yanosko and not Heather who wanted to try and make good on the loan and keep her family home.
Heather sought legal assistance from Neighborhood Legal Services and the Woman’s Shelter of Pittsburgh, and was awarded power of attorney over all things related to the house by the courts.
At this point the bank agreed to work with Heather and sent her a package of information in which they offered to change the terms of the original loan if she could get her name added to the property deed.
In March of 2009, Mrs. Yanosko’s name was legally added to the deed, as the bank required.
Heather then borrowed several thousand dollars from family and friends so that she could bring the loan up to date under the new agreement, only to be refused co-operation by the bank when she attempted to pay them.
The bank did not keep their promise.
The bank has now decided not to honor the new agreement they offered to Heather, claiming the reason to be because the home is not the primary residence of Mr. Yanosko. A fact that they have known from the start as the cause for this whole situation, and regardless of the fact that the home is the primary (and only) residence of Mrs. Yansoko and her seven children.
Heather and her children are our community...
Mrs. Yanosko isn’t asking for anything more than the bank to honor what they agreed to now that she has done everything they requested of her through the courts.
In her own words, “I don’t expect Bank of America to let us live here for free, but I have asked them for some understanding and compassion, and their answer is a notice that our home will be sold at auction on June 1. How can it be that this huge, great American company had no problem taking billions of dollars in a taxpayer-funded bailout when it was in need and now has no shame as it prepares to put my children and I out on the street when we’re just asking for help to make this right?”
“I’m not looking for a bailout or a handout, just some help making this right,” said Mrs. Yanosko. “Politicians stepped in to spend billions of dollars saving companies like Bank of America because they deemed them too big to fail. I’ve got seven children, and we’re about to lose our home; I’d hope our elected leaders would look at my family and decide it’s too big to fail, too. We’re running out of time and hope.”
Heather is one of us, she and her family live in our community, and she has done nothing wrong. We at PittZine.com urge everyone to stand up and say that this sort of treatment is unacceptable.
There’s so much of Bank of America’s behavior to be offended by in this situation that it’s hard to know where to start a list.
- Accepted taxpayer bailouts but refuse to show compassion for a mother of seven who wants to do the right thing with them.
- Back-stepping on their own proposed new agreement.
- How about refusing to honor the agreements they’ve promised after their stated requirements were met, because “the man of the house” isn’t living there any longer.
Personally, I expect bankers to act like bankers, but with a modest degree of professionalism. But in this case they appear to be acting more like a sexist “Lenny the Loanshark”.
We urge everyone to contact their federal, state and local politician’s offices and ask them if they have the courage to stand up for this family in the same manner they’ve been willing to stand up for Bank of America in recent months.
PA Senators
PA Members of The House of Representatives
Altmire, Jason, Pennsylvania, 4th
Brady, Robert, Pennsylvania, 1st
Carney, Christopher P., Pennsylvania, 10th
Dahlkemper, Kathy, Pennsylvania, 3rd
Dent, Charles W., Pennsylvania, 15th
Doyle, Mike, Pennsylvania, 14th
Fattah, Chaka, Pennsylvania, 2nd
Gerlach, Jim, Pennsylvania, 6th
Kanjorski, Paul E., Pennsylvania, 11th
Holden, Tim, Pennsylvania, 17th
Murphy, Patrick J., Pennsylvania, 8th
Murphy, Tim, Pennsylvania, 18th (Represents Heather Yanosko’s district)
Murtha, John, Pennsylvania, 12th
Pitts, Joseph R., Pennsylvania, 16th
Platts, Todd, Pennsylvania, 19th
Schwartz, Allyson Y., Pennsylvania, 13th
Sestak, Joe, Pennsylvania, 7th
Shuster, Bill, Pennsylvania, 9th
Thompson, Glen W., Pennsylvania, 5th
Find your PA state legislators by zip code.
We also urge you to contact Bank of America and let them know how you feel about their actions and style of doing business in our community.
If you would like to contact Heather Yanosko with any advice that might be helpful, to schedule an interview or to just offer a few words of encouragement she may be reached at momwithseven@hotmail.com
UPDATE: At the time of this posting I’m told that the property sale date has been changed from June 1st, to July 6th. It’s not much, but does give Heather and her children a few more weeks to try to convince Bank of America to honor their deal. Perhaps if enough people make their opinions known that will happen.
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This is just a dirty bank-stabbing by B of A to take the house
Absolutely! You know, I’ve worked for years with the STOP effort fighting to keep local governments from taking people’s homes for property taxes, but this is the first time I’ve ever come across a bank refusing to accept payments that were being offered. Especially after negotiating a deal to get the loan current. It should be criminal.
Man this is sad, it shows you don’t even have to look outside of our own borders to find true evil being done to American families. I’m writing my senators about this story right now and will pray for this family.
I’ve boycotted Bank of America for many years now since I had a $10,000 check and wanted to open an account, but my credit wasn’t “good” enough for them. I had been through a nasty divorce and an ex-husband that spent a few years helping me ruin my credit. I was at a point to move myself upwards and I wasn’t looking for credit, just to open a damn account so I could bank and pay my bills. They wouldn’t even let me give them my money to hold and make interest on. I swore then, 7 years ago, that B of A would NEVER see my money! I see now that they are just as unscrupulous as ever. What is wrong with these people and why the hell are my taxpayer dollars bailing them out??? Jeesh this makes me sooooooooo mad! If I won the lottery I would pay this loan off for this woman and tell B of A to kiss my ass and hers too! What a waste. I hope some government official wakes up, but unfortunately I doubt it, because they are probably too busy counting the dollars of kickbacks and discounts that B of A is giving them! Check out http://www.goooh.com and lets get these politicians that don’t represent us out of office!!
Does the mother work?
Caballero: <<>>
In relation to this story –which is that BOA reneged on promises after making the woman jump through hoops —Why does it matter if she works? If she’s got the money to make good on the payments, it shouldn’t matter where the money comes from.
i feel that many people use there children and stories of how they were left with a bunch of kids to try to get off from paying what everyone else in the world has to pay.. now i dont say that this isnt a sad story but personally looking into the situation i learned that the mrs. of this situation. does not work and is living off the government for children that she only has half the time. reguardless of her situation if she know that she has these kids to take of she should be working… she be at least trying to assist herself before crying out to the public before letting it get this far. i dont want to go into detail. but this young lady isnt telling the whole truth about her situation. and this should be looked into greater detail before hasty decison are made
– signed pro bono lawyer
Really, Mr. pro bono lawyer? You looked into this story and found all of that out?
That’s strange, since you’re dead wrong in the claims you assert, which means you’re not just an idiot with an Internet connection and too much time on your hands, but, in-fact, you’re a liar too.
And by the way, I would have contacted you directly at your law office to provide factual corrections, Mr. pro bono lawyer, except that I couldn’t because you used a fake email address when commenting.
I suspect that’s because you’re a coward as well, who likes to spew garbage online in the shadows of anonymity… but who am I to judge?
Calm down. I didn’t mean to start an arguement!! The only reason I asked if the Mother worked is if she were to get money to catch up on her house payments, how is she going to pay future payments? So in short she wants help to catch up and then has other people helping to make the future payments. When is she going to help herself? Sorry but I don’t think I will be contributing anytime soon. Get off the couch, quit feeling sorry for yourself and GET A JOB!!
Caballero, if you read the piece then you should have seen that she isn’t asking for any handouts. She only wants BOA to honor the agreement that they negotiated with her.
Yes, the mortgage payments fell behind, but it happened without her knowledge when her husband stopped making the payments, as he had agreed to do when they separated. She wasn’t notified or aware of a problem until the payments were so far behind that the bank began foreclosure actions.
At that point the bank agreed to work with her to keep her home, so long as she jumped through all of their hoops and received a court ruling that would legally allow the bank to work with her on the loan.
She did everything that was requested, and all she’s asking for now is the bank to honor the deal they offered to her when this started.
In writing this story, I made an additional request. I’ve asked members of our community who agree with me that “breaking deals” and “stringing people along without any intentions of honoring your own agreements” is a rotten way of doing business–to take a few moments of their time and let BOA as well as their local elected officials know it.
I have a few Questions first. Why did the father stop making the payment? Could it be because he is not able to make them due to financial strain of his own? I do not believe that she did not know that the house was behind this badly. I work in collections and no company especially a Bank would let any one person get so far behind with out contacting them. Also in the article it says that Heather borrowed several thousand from friends and family to get the house back on track. Isn’t that what family and friends are for to help the people they love when they are in a tight spot and support them when they can. I don’t see how this is relevant to the story my family and friends have lent me money in the past and I have done the same for them. Also it states in the article that this is the only residence of the children. Which means that these poor kids never stay with their father is that true? Also if Heather is not looking for handouts then how is she paying for the seven kids to live? They need food and by the looks of the pictures they have really nice clothes. How is she paying for all this if she does not work? She has to be getting assistance from the state which is a handout (I’m not saying that with seven kids she shouldn’t get help but I think if she was helping her self with a job I might be more inclined to agree with the help) As for the Bank of America if they agreed to honor this policy then they should but was it in writing or just verbal? because if it was verbal it will be hard to prove in a court. Also what exactly were the terms of the agreement what was the time frame? Was it met? When was the first payment due? Was it met? This story seems to be really biased and against the bank who might be in the wrong but America needs to remember that they are also a company and if all the arrangements were not met then why should she get the deal? I feel that there really is not enough information to protest Bank of America because of this article it is one sided and we do not know if it is the truth post the paper work (and all of it) so we can see it before you ask us to protest them. I personally have not had any problems with the Bank of America and have not seen any thing that makes me have a problem with them.
It’s funny, because this is your 4th comment here on this story, under your 3rd username… you’ve called yourself Caballero, then pro bono lawyer and now Skeptic? All of your comments came from the same computer on the same IP address, so what’s with the identity crisis?
And the bigger question I have is what exactly would be your personal connection to this story that you would comment in an obvious attempt to cast doubt on the reported facts and people involved under multiple fake identities?
The story already explained how the mortgage became so far behind without Mrs Yanosko knowing what was happening. The property was originally only in her ex’s name, so legally the bank couldn’t talk to her about it. They made no attempts to contact her prior to starting the foreclosure process because that would have been illegal for them to do while her name wasn’t on the mortgage.
That’s why when she did become aware and asked if there was any way to save the home, BOA made her get the courts involved to have her name added to the property–so that they could then discuss the loan with her.
You’re absolutely correct, turning to friends and family is what most people would do when suddenly faced with many months worth of back mortgage payments being due. Having friends and family who were willing to step-up and help when this happened says something on the character of Mrs. Yanosko, I think, because unless you’re a good and decent person nobody in their right mind is going to put themselves out like that for you. That’s why I included that fact in the story.
Actually if you do your research you can have multiple computers on the same network and that server is randomly giving out IP address to the multiple computers on our network. I have never responded to this article before. An associate of mine (possibly one of the other two names) told me to read it because the article is a JOKE. I felt that I needed to comment on this article because a lot of my family is behind on their houses because of our economy but you don’t see them begging and asking the banks to bail them out. My question is what is your personal connection with this Heather you seem really defensive of her. Also why wont you answer any of my Questions are you afraid that if you do the others who read this article will find out that you didn’t do your research.
Look, if you’re going to run with the “shared network” idea, change the web browser you use each time, and be sure to clear your cookies. Otherwise, you give yourself away.
The bank was assured that she could meet the monthly mortgage if they honored their deal. I verified that she could do it and wouldn’t have written this story if I didn’t believe it to be true.
I’ve answered every relevant question you or anyone has asked here, but I won’t address irrelevant points, nor will I go any further in discussing the personal finances of Mrs. Yanosko, because that isn’t what this story is about and it isn’t anybody’s business, including my own.
I get that you want to twist this story into “she’s asking for a handout”, because that would suit your agenda, but it just isn’t the case.
She’s not asking for handouts from you, me or even the bank itself. She’s just asking for fair treatment in that the bank does what it said it would once she met all of their terms.
She lived up to her end and jumped through all their hoops to save her home. Unfortunately, despite all of that, the bank, has so far failed to live up to their end.
Scott, I do want to apologize for my second posting. because you attacked me directly and I was offended with your comments that you posted I wrote that posting in anger and it was uprofessional of me. The network that we are on is a server that is ran by a IT department and we have no way of getting to the network connections. I did look into it and determine that I am wrong about how you are getting the same IP address it is because we are on a Proxy server. So you are getting that servers IP address I assure you that I am only skeptic. An associate of mine told me to go online and read the article and what they wrote to you and what you replied. Personally I feel that your comments are rude and biased and a writer should not get so defensive when he asked people to write their comments. However this is irreverent to the story so lets remain professional on both ends okay. I am not trying to make Heather or the story look bad I am simply saying that we do not have all the facts you brought up the father and the bank but we are only heating from Heather. I don’t care what her finances are but think about it there has to be some other reason that the bank is not honoring this deal. IE. time frames not meet, amounts not meet, small print that was over looked. I am just saying that with only hearing one side of a triangle is not enough to make a educated decision on boycotting a Bank. as I said in my first posting I have never had a problem with Bank of America and all I am hearing is this one complaint in the paper. Heather may be entitled to this deal, the bank might be wrong however at this point it is between Heather and the Bank. The Bank is going to make their decision regardless of what people write in. The two problems I have are we do not have all the facts and with out all the facts you are asking us to write our senators. The Questions I have in my first posting are the questions I got from your article itself.
Hello Skeptic,
Let me start by saying that B of A is still working on saving this families home. Thanks to people like Scott shining a light on the situation and its injustices.
I know Heather personally, and can tell you she has been looking for work. Not an easy task when you have seven children. She was a stay at home mom,and married for almost 13 years, until the Mr. decided he could make a better life without her and got a coworker pregnant. Heather was pregnant at the time of him leaving with their 7th child and like i said, was almost always a stay at home mom. Never really able to go to back to school (until now) she was forced into a situation where she needed some assistance from the state. Something she did very heavy heartedly. (But that has nothing really to do with the story)The kids all visit their Dad on the Weekends. (when he’s willing to take them) Ten nights a month total. She sometimes provides the father with food on his weekends so the kids wont go hungry (against the advisements of her friends and family) because she a good person. She’s turned down many many handouts, in fact shes usualy the one whos giving, and was very hesitant to let this go public.
The fact is that the bank made Heather an offer, on paper,Fed Exed to her front door, in full awareness of her financial situation, also knowing that the mr. no longer lived in the home. But then decided they would no longer honor the agreement because Mr.Yanosko no longer lived in the home. From what she tells me her lawyers, and B of A are working together to try to solve this problem. So this is not yet a lost cause.
To answer the other question why did the father stop paying? Its hard to pay for two family’s and i suspect that would a big reason that the Mr. could no longer cover his obligations. But the story isn’t really about him, or what he did or didn’t do. Frankly he should be a non issue, and thats the whole point of the story. Its about a BIG bank, that made an offer to a family then took it away, only sighting the reason being that the Mr. was no longer living in the home. Not because things weren’t done on time, or because of a financial situation. But because of a fact they were well aware of being the cause, The Mr. was no longer in the home. Plain and simple thats the story. You can fact check about this story too, Pro bono, because if im correct ALL court documents are filed downtown in the prothonotary’s office. From PFA’s, custody agreements to suits currently held against B of A. But being a lawyer you would all ready know that right? Also Skeptic, if the only complaint you are hearing about B of A is this article, then maybe you could google them. There are plenty out there.
Hello,
My name is Christian Yanosko, as you can imagine i need not state my relation to this story. I assure you that i have no interest in causing trouble or in having my children lose one of their two homes. I was not previously contacted by either author for comment. I figured id post something here, since i seem to be the vilified personage (in both Shawn & Scott Bannon’s articles… same last name as the “roomate”? who, btw is turning out to be a fantastic stepfather to my kids). I also have no interest in turning this into a discussion board on divorce, feminism, liberalism/conservatism or any other sideline items that such a story can easily retrogress into.
There seem to be a few factual inaccuracies that i maybe able shed some light on for everyone. 1) It is in-fact American Equity Mortgage who first gave the mortgage, who then sold it to CountryWide Mortgage (and in the process “misplaced” the fha insurance info enabling default ). CountryWide of course was then sucked up by Bank Of America (in the bailout i assume?). 2) Now this mortgage was doomed from its conception with AEM, it was contingent on another mortgage/rental property. Because this rental property (the former home) never occupied a single tenant, the burden of two mortgages was insurmountable. Both the rental property and the home my kids stay in 60% of the time fell into default with in 60 days. The default at that time was a result of a 3 month layoff. Keep in mind that this happened mid year 2005! 3) While it is indeed embarrassing to admit such huge failures in a public forum such as this, it seemed at the time that there was no choice but to claim bankruptcy to save the house. Heather found a lawyer (a regrettable choice in retrospect) and bankruptcy proceedings began in early 2006. This effectively stopped the foreclosure process that had begun in 2005, and remained intact until later 2007. In that time frame i was laid off again, and after 4 months was told my lay off was permanent. I struggled to keep up with the 1300.00 bankruptcy payments(bankruptcy court order) in addition to the 700.00 consent agreement child support being paid to Heather (No court order). The sum of the two was 208% of my income… i say that because it is easily discernable that my living arrangements are irrelevant, in relation to the defaulted trusty payments. 4) Call me what you like but my consent agreement for the child support was also badly hurt by the layoff (i did pay her entire paychecks minus gas to get to work). Luckily Heather was willing to work with me, and i did my best to get caught up. However nice it was of her to work with me, it does cause some drastic discrepancies in this idea that she had no idea this was coming. (Additionally i faxed in another letter to the mortgage company giving her permission to speak on my behalf, the day after Heather told me that they wouldn’t give her info. I can not say why it is, that despite multiple customer service reps assurances that the letters stay on file that i had to fax one every few months!) 5) You may also note that Heather is the one who found the lawyer referral for the bankruptcy, again she knew what the state of the mortgage was since its apperception nearly 5 years ago.
There are many people in the process of losing there homes in these trying times, many of whom are not nearly 5 years late on their payments. The reason this story tugs at the heart strings is due to the number of children involved, and the easy sympathy given by anyone who has had a bad marriage. However that is NOT the precedents that this story begins with, it is about the evil mortgage company not working with its customers. If you remove all emotion from your judgment of this story, the facts play out as such: 2005 two idiots make foolish financial decisions -> industrial spending lags -> lay off -> foreclosure -> extension on mortgage -> 2006 -> bankruptcy -> 2007 -> slowing economy -> lay off -> failure of bankruptcy -> foreclosure-> 2008 -> extension on foreclosure-> extension on foreclosure-> extension on foreclosure-> extension on foreclosure-> 2009 -> extension on foreclosure-> extension on foreclosure-> …. in many ways it would seem the evil mortgage co. has been most forgiving when you remove all the wordy subtleties.
I have no delusion that people find it easier to blame others for their own failings, mistakes, and in some cases subjugation. We all make BIG mistakes, we all suffer loss, we all go through turmoil. We should all feel the joy of giving and if you find it in your heart to donate to Heather, good for you! May that charity come back on you 10 fold. But i implore you, give for the right reasons. Do it because of your religious beliefs, do it because you are kind hearted, or just because you can. BUT giving out of pitty or because you are getting back at the man is fatuity.
Ill give you one comment in regards to the more personal points raised in this artical… anyone who assumes to know the cause of anothers actions is a fool, untill they have themselves verified their speculations with the one whose actions they have judged.
Thank you,
Christian Yanosko
” the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
Yeah, what he said, but he said it alot nicer than I would have!