It’s been a year since Sue Wilson was in a wreck that changed her life.

It’s a year she’d rather forget.

On Jan. 27, 2007, Wilson’s vehicle was struck by then-Bessemer City High School senior Zachary Ruffner. The Highway Patrol estimated Ruffner was going about 80 mph in the 45-mph curvy stretch of Sparrow Springs Road.

Three teenagers riding with Ruffner died. The impact crushed Wilson’s right arm.

She has four pins, a plate and screws in that arm now. She also bruised her heart and her chest.

“I stayed in intensive care four days,” Wilson said.

For three months, she was out of work and drew disability.

Then she went back to her packing job at Ortronics in Dallas. Two months later, the plant shut down.

Wilson took out a $54,000 mortgage in March 2006 to do some home repairs and pay off some medical bills.

Wilson, 69, owned the brick home on Sparrow Springs Road since 1957, when family members gave her a parcel of land to build a house after she got married. Her husband died four years ago, and since then she’s lived alone in her home.

Falling behind

By August 2007, she’d fallen behind on her mortgage payments.

Wilson contacted Ocwen Loan Servicing when she couldn’t pay her monthly bill.

“I called them and told them my situation and told them as soon as I got my settlement, I would catch up,” Wilson said. “They said, ‘OK, everything’s fine.’”

Ocwen Financial Corp. Vice President Bill Rinehart said he wasn’t sure how clear the communication was between Wilson and Ocwen. If the representative believed the settlement was eminent, there would be “no need to do anything other than remit the funds to us when she got them.”

On Sept. 28, the Gaston County Sheriff’s Department brought Wilson a letter stating she needed to be at the courthouse for a special proceeding.

Wilson called up Ocwen.

“I said, ‘Should I go to the courthouse?’ and he said ‘No, not if you’re going to send in money.’”

“Is it possible somebody said, ‘Don’t worry about it?” Rinehart asked. “I don’t know. We instruct our folks pretty clearly. We never give legal advice.”

Wilson’s house was auctioned to HSBC Bank on the courthouse steps Nov. 21, 2007, for $52,080.

She received a settlement check from Nationwide Insurance of $24,750 — $17,000 after lawyer fees — just after Christmas.

Ocwen’s account

Rinehart said Wilson’s account showed she made payments through November 2006 then stopped.

On Feb. 26, 2007, Wilson and Ocwen agreed on a forbearance plan, which allows a person to delay or reduce payments for a time. As long as a person makes payments, foreclosure is delayed, Rinehart said.

“We stop the clock,” Rinehart said.

Wilson then paid $500 a month until August, Rinehart said.

Company records show that Ocwen called Wilson in October and November, Rinehart said. Notes indicate that representatives had specific conversations with her telling Wilson the sale date and that Ocwen needed signed plans and money before Nov. 21 to stop the sale.

“I’m highly confident we delivered that message clearly,” Rinehart said.

Wilson called Ocwen Dec. 26 according to company records, saying she had received a settlement and wanted to see if Ocwen could rescind the sale.

He isn’t sure what happened between then and Jan. 4. That’s the day Wilson was evicted.

In order to forestall a foreclosure, the company and Wilson would have to enter into a new agreement. Wilson would need to provide some cash to show that she could make payments.

The company isn’t likely to enter into a repayment plan unless it’s sure a person can make payments, Rinehart said.

“When you start a foreclosure process in North Carolina, it’s over pretty quickly,” Rinehart said.

Wilson denied claims that Ocwen called her or told her what was going to happen.

No incentive for lenders to foreclose

“Our job is to try to help the borrower,” Rinehart said. “The loans that we service are not originated by us.”

When customers are interested in keeping their homes Ocwen had an 80 percent success rate in avoiding foreclosure, Rinehart said.

“We have a big financial incentive to keep that loan alive and help the customer make payments,” Rinehart said. “Everything we do is designed to help folks stay in their home.”

Investors lose an average of $53,000 on every foreclosure, Rinehart said. Claims that a company makes money on a foreclosure are not true, he said.
Ocwen has been named in many lawsuits siting unfair practices and manipulative techniques.

“When you’re a subprime servicer, that’s part of our business,” Rinehart said. “People get upset and lots of people blame us.”

Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance Lisa Rice said being a subprime servicer is a difficult job because they can’t change the terms of the loan, but still have to work to keep people in their homes.

Ocwen has been a supporter of the alliance’s anti-predatory lending campaign since 2004, sponsored foreclosure workshops and started initiatives to work with nonprofits to help people in foreclosure she said.

“They’ve been trying to reach out,” Rice said. “They’ve been trying to do the right thing.”

But they also have a stake in the market.

“They’re a for-profit company,” Rice said. “They’re in business to make money.”

What’s next?

Wilson now lives with her grandson in a two-bedroom apartment on Union Road.

“I’ve lost every way, every way,” Wilson said. “I just want my house back. And they should give it to me.”

Wilson regrets getting that loan.

She’s angry with an insurance company that took a year to settle.

But she’s even more upset with the mortgage company that she said deceived her, giving her no chance to try to save her home.

“Why did I ever borrow the money?” Wilson asked. “Why did I do this?”

But there just might be a chance Wilson can get her home back.

A company representative called this Gazette reporter Tuesday. The representative said Ocwen wanted to get in touch with Wilson to see what the company could do to work with her.

Wilson said she spoke with an Ocwen representative who deals with financing on Thursday who spoke about some possible options.

“We’re going to see if there is something we can do,” Rinehart said. “We’re going to try to find a way to see if we can get Miss Wilson back in the home.”

Rinehart said he didn’t know if things would work out.

“But we’re going to try,” Rinehart said.

You can reach Amanda Millard at 704-869-1839.