BlackVoices History Quest: Augusta, Georgia
Pastor Poised To Be First Black To Lead Southern Baptists
With only days to earn the $2,500 she needed to keep her home, Angela Logan developed what her children christened her "Mortgage Apple Cake," sales of which have saved her from financial ruin. Using her own personal recipe that she had previously served to family and friends, Angela sold her homemade cakes to classmates, colleagues and her church family with much initial success.Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The Bake Me a Wish organization then heard her story, and stepped in to provide Angela with a professional kitchen. Within two weeks, she was able to save her home through the additional volume the facilities enabled her to produce! Logan says it was hard to admit to people that she was in a needy situation, but it was just this revelation that brought her the support and resources needed to solve her problems. What a marvelous money lesson showing the power of personal initiative, faith, community support -- and the entrepreneurial spirit.
Ron Nash is not someone who's shy about pushing to get what he wants; he's a motivational speaker, headhunter and author of "How to Find Your Dream Job; Even in a Recession." But when it came to obtaining a mortgage workout, he wasn't getting anywhere -- even after months of trying. He finally wrote a letter to the president of his lender to try to resolve the issue. The results were very gratifying -- at first. After that, however, and after he was asked to send in all his paperwork for the fifth time, he didn't hear from them again for six months. Then, recently, he finally got a call back with a loan workout offer.
Full Story: Why He Chose to Walk Away
Six Horror Stories of Mortgage Modification
Sue Wright, Las Vegas, Nev.
Real estate agent Sue Wright was one of the earliest homeowners to apply for the FDIC's mortgage modification plan to help insolvent IndyMac's at-risk borrowers keep their homes. But because she was current on her mortgage payments, the bank said it couldn't help her and advised her to stop making payments for two months. She did that and called back right after her second payment was overdue. She was given a plan with a reduced interest rate and told to make the new payments for three months and the modification would become permanent. But after doing that, she received a letter from the bank telling her the modification was off; the investors wouldn't approve it.
Full Story: The Crazy Part Is ...
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
A. G. Chancey, Longwood, Fla.
Chancey has been trying to arrange a mortgage workout since August 2008, when she was only two months behind on payments. Today, after dozens of phone calls to her lender, she's made progress. But she's now five months behind. She has been in the home for 23 years, but family health problems, divorce and economic factors have conspired against her and she's never been able to substantially pay down the loan. She tried to apply for a mortgage workout, but no one ever seemed to know her status.
Full Story: She May Get Good News Yet
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Raul Medina, Moorestown, N.J.
No good deed goes unpunished, they say, and Amber and Joe Tardiff might be forced to agree. When Joe's good friend and partner in a landscaping business, Raul Medina, was left a parapalgegic by an auto accident, the Tardiffs took on the Good Samaritan task of dealing with Medina's mortgage issues. Medina, who's also a minister, owns two properties, his residence and one he bought for a Moorestown, N.J., church to provide shelter for the homeless. But after seven months of roadblocks, wrong numbers, voice mails to people who no longer work for the company, they were told that the lender does not offer any loan modifications.
Full Story: His Only Options Now
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Richard and Pati Kays, Stuart, Fla.
"He's 83 and I'm 73, with separate assets, stuck in the mortgage mess. We're not quite in foreclosure but in distress over the inability to sell or refinance," says Pati Kays. Pati married husband Richard seven years ago. He's a retired high-steel construction man. She's a retired attorney who owns five cottages she rents out. Richard was supplementing his pension and social security with the rent from a mortgaged duplex he owns. Not any more. His adjustable rate mortgage reset, and his payment on the $430K mortgage went from $1,750 a month to $2,750. The rent he now receives is only $1,800 a month. Trying to head off problems, Richard called his lender to ask for a workout.
Full Story: Why He's in a Bind
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Ron Nash, Carlsbad, Calif.
Ron Nash is not someone who's shy about pushing to get what he wants; he's a motivational speaker, headhunter and author of "How to Find Your Dream Job; Even in a Recession." But when it came to obtaining a mortgage workout, he wasn't getting anywhere -- even after months of trying. He finally wrote a letter to the president of his lender to try to resolve the issue. The results were very gratifying -- at first. After that, however, and after he was asked to send in all his paperwork for the fifth time, he didn't hear from them again for six months. Then, recently, he finally got a call back with a loan workout offer.
Full Story: Why He Chose to Walk Away
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Ken Mobley, Tampa, Fla.
Ken Mobley had some of his best earnings years ever in the mid-2000s, as an advertising sales representative for a media company. But with newspaper ad revenues in decline, he was "reorganized" by his company and now sells ads to mom-and-pop businesses. He called his lender last fall hoping for a hardship consideration and asking for a two-month postponement of his mortgage payments. He wanted to have them added to the end of his mortgage. Mobley says his credit rating was excellent, and he was merely trying to free up some cash for the holidays. The effort failed.
Full Story: His Catch-22
Courtesy CNNMoney.com
Comments: (4)
Add a comment
By: Sheryl on 7/29/2009 6:11PM
The other day, my daughter posted a quote on her Facebook..."You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have!"
Angela Logan exemplifies that statement, and she makes me proud to be a black woman. She used her creativity, her talents and her faith to jump out there and basically "get it done"! I wish her much success in the future.
I also hope that other young women, who feel like they have to do 'other things' and belittle themselves, will take a look at this woman and learn from her.
She makes me want to start cooking again!! LOL
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: NLD on 8/03/2009 8:49PM
I like this because I had thought of doing the same thing to get out of my own debt. I have been to shy to do it. I hope that all she has done will teach others to look for other means of making it.
Report This
By: Miserable Grouch on 8/14/2009 11:56PM
THIS IS SICKENINIG!!! Why do we (Americans) continue to validate opportunistic stories like this one? Why am I so negative, lets see... the mortgage crisis was born out of the greed of financial institutions and individuals that, knowingly brought Homes they could not afford. Well you know how the story the goes the government decided to give all those bozo our money to bail them out. Now in a sort of mass induced lobotomy the public decides, Hey, why not help all saps that have a sad tale. What’s next? Are people are going to start making cakes for any occasion for ex: I got a parking ticket- $40 cake, I need to do the laundry $50 cake, a butterfly farted $60 cake. Bad stuff happens to good folks. All this originated from the sad event of the Hobden family (http://mortgagecake.com/) when their daughter became ill they, baked their way out foreclosure by making apple spice cakes yum! Now Mrs./Ms Logan (and this is what is most frustrating to me) without divulging the reason for her predicament; was she one of the innumerable that help screw-up the economy? Or like the Hobdens did life throw a monkey wrench into her plans? Decides to make guess what? You got it, her very own special version of the apple spice cake. At least she could have made a banana nut cake! All this is a weird version of stone soup, except at the end of this tale you end with a pricey cake and get to feel good. If you want to give your hard earned money to people that made stupid chooses; fine, I would love to get $49.99 from you and I will send you in my finest hand writing, a thankful note. If this sounds stupid well it is (and so is giving people handouts when people make bad, selfish financial choices). The best way to feel good about your-self is to stop enabling people and make your own damn cake, you may even find a con and make money.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: My Name on 4/27/2010 7:32PM
I am a former boyfriend of Angela's...and I had been thinking of her just recently...and the breakup in the 70's was my fault not hers.
This is my character reference of Angela Logan. You could not ask for a better person to be on your side, a better woman, a true person of deep love and integrity.
I was a fool, a total jackass, and one day, I hope she forgives me in her heart. I am almost certain we will not see other again; but I can assure there is no one like Angela; she is a woman of character...and forget race, all women, no matter what race, I wish I knew more women like Angela.
Believe it or not, her and the first lady, would get along real well.
Reply to this Comment | Report This