Retired Teacher Says Bank Forged Her Loan Docs

After 25 years of teaching Physical Education in San Francisco, Armenoun Bankun got laid off.  She resorted to previously unthinkable measures to keep paying her bills.  

“I cashed in my retirement, so we wouldn’t lose our home,” Bankun said.  But when she tried to refinance it, she ran into problems. 

“When I gave them my mortgage paperwork, they told me that it looked like one of the pages had been forged,” she said.  “When I looked at it, it wasn’t the same size as the other sheets; and they had put down that my salary was double what it was.”

She also said that her signature looked like it had been pulled from another paper.  

Their home is worth about $600,000, according to her husband George. But when they bought it, they paid $735,000.   

“We couldn’t have afforded it, if Wachovia hadn’t changed the paperwork,” he said. 

The couple, along with about 150 others who are concerned about foreclosure, turned to professionals for help Saturday.

Rose Jacobs Gibson, Supervisor of , co hosted the San Mateo County Foreclosure Resource Fair Saturday, which was held at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center at 700 Alma Street in Menlo Park. The event coincided with a report her office released called The State of Foreclosures in San Mateo County.    

According to her report, 3,859 loan default notices were delivered to people in San Mateo County in 2010.  1,369 of those people lost their homes.

East Palo Alto Mayor Carlos Romero says while 55 percent of San Mateo County is very affluent, much of it is not. About 85 percent of the people who attended Saturday’s event were people of color.  He said this is representative of the whole county. 

“We have pockets of poverty in areas such as Fair Oaks, East Menlo Park, East Palo Alto.  And because the rest of the county is wealthy, the median income is too high to qualify for Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds, Romero said. Those could pay for programs to help people keep their homes.

The county provided free counseling services to people Saturday, with the goal of reviewing their loan documents, telling them what their options are, and putting them in touch with banks who might be able to help them. 

The event was sponsored by the City of Menlo Park, Chase Bank, Northern California Urban Development, Wells Fargo, Keep Your Home California, Redwood City, and the Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto.

The Bankuns have attempted to refinance through Wells Fargo and Wachovia in the past. 

“But they all say I make too much money, because I’m using money from my retirement fund,” Mrs. Bankun said.

The two were still waiting in line to see a counselor at noon on Saturday when I departed.