Kai Wright tells the story of the millions of black Americans targeted by the sub-prime lending industry:
When my mom describes it all now–10 months after she walked away from her house of 14 years–she sounds sort of crazy to me. I make her explain again and again, because the depth of her denial about the situation she faced is hard for me to understand. But that’s the thing about losing stuff. Whether it’s your keys or your life savings, it’s tough getting to that moment when you realize something’s gone for good.
My mother, Carolyn White, and her husband, Earl, spent the first eight months of 2008 haggling with Countrywide Financial (now acquired by Bank of America), trying and failing to get their sub-prime loan modified into something they could pay. She and Earl, like so many other casualties of the sub-prime disaster, had refinanced their home to take out equity. Then the rate exploded, increasing their monthly payment by hundreds of dollars.
They’re of course not alone. More than 10 percent of all mortgages were in default as 2008 ended. We logged more than 800,000 foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, which projects 2.4 million this year.
