Crime & Safety

South Gate Resident Continues to Plead for Loan Modification

Ana Casas Wilson took staged a small protest in Downtown Los Angeles.

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This morning, at approximately 11: 00 a.m., Ana Casas Wilson, 50, stood with supporters outside the entrance to the Los Angeles Central Library on Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Casas Wilson, a longtime South Gate resident who is suffering from both stage four breast cancer and cerebral palsy, asked Wells Fargo and US Bank to please award her a loan modification on her now foreclosed home in San Juan Avenue. 

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“We asked for a loan modification,” said Casas Wilson outside the library, before the protest began to make its way to Wells Fargo and US Bank buildings in Los Angeles. “They wont give me a modification, I don’t even know why they wont accept my money.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) was expected to evict Casas Wilson from her home.  However, they have yet to act on the eviction order.

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This protest coincided with another in San Francisco and Minneapolis, which are calling for a halt of foreclosures on cancer patients in the United States. 

According to a press release issued by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Casas Wilson was diagnosed with cancer in 2009.

As a result of this, Casas Wilson fell behind on her mortgage payments because her husband, James Wilson, was forced to quit one of his jobs in order to properly attend to her health needs.

James Wilson is now employed by the Lynwood Unified School District, and the family can now make regular payments.

According to Casas Wilson, Wells Fargo, which serviced the loand, and US Bank, which owns the mortgage, ignored her requests to begin negotiations on a loan modification.

However, Wells Fargo has now approached her to discuss the issue.

“They tried to explain to her why she did not qualify for a loan modification,” said Peter Kuhns, an organizer with ACCE, outside the library. “But it did not make any sense.”

Kuhns added that a certified Housing Urban Development counselor supports Casas Wilson’s claim that she does qualify for a modification.

Wells Fargo has told Patch via email that they have exhausted all retension measures and have offered loan modifications in the past. They also stated that they offered financial support for the family to move. 

“We provided loan modifications on two separate occasions [to James and Ana Casas-Wilson] and both offers were declined,” said Veronica Clemons, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo, in an email last week. “We also have offered financial relocation assistance to help transition them to a new residence.  Those offers were turned down.”

Statements that representatives of Casas Wilson and her family have taken issue with.

“Ana is not aware of any loan modification offers from Wells Fargo,” said Kuhns in an interview last week. “These banks have the option to work with Ana now, if they really wanted to, so it’s not true that all options have been exhausted.”

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