22 days ago
WOODBRIDGE, Va., (WUSA) -- "I didn't build this home for someone to take it away from me because I financially fell short of our economy," says Patience Johnson.
When the economy went south, so did her business, PJ's Day Care in Woodbridge, Virginia.
"In November, I lost 13 children. Thirteen children times 500 is...you do the math," Patience says.
But with an empty classroom, her $6,000 monthly income dwindled to zero. And for the first time in a decade, she couldn't afford to pay her house note.
Patience says, "So, I called my lender and I talked to them and I tell them over and over i would like to apply for the loan modification. That I have a hardship."
She's learning the hard way that doing the right things doesn't always add up to a happy ending.
"I was told in August that I would get a certified document. I haven't gotten that. I got this," she says.
Her lender, Bank of America, sent her a foreclosure notice.
"There is some disconnect between the fact that the money is available and actually getting it to the people that need it," says realtor Mike Aubrey.
And, experts say some big companies, like Bank of America, that received huge bailouts from taxpayers are slow to pay that help forward.
According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, Bank of America only approved 4 percent of it's clients for trial modifications.
Mike Aubrey says, "She's the exact person that President Obama wanted to help with the HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) money. How do we get it to her though?"
We reached out to Bank of America to ask that very question. A spokesperson told us they were researching Patience's case and would get back to us. But, we're still waiting for an answer.
"I'm angry. I'm really angry," she says.
Patience is fighting to hold on to her family home with a looming foreclosure deadline just days away.
"I've yet to make sense of this nonsense," she says.
