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124

The USDA Wouldn’t Let Her Give Up Her House When She Couldn’t Pay Her Mortgage. Instead, It Crushed Her With Debt. (www.propublica.org)

submitted 5 days ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world

2 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Since March, the USDA has filed 56 foreclosures in the federal court system against properties purchased with a rural development mortgage, also known as a Section 502 direct loan. All but one were in Maine. The borrowers have been in default for an average of nearly nine years.

USDA guidance says the agency should act quickly when borrowers fall behind on payments “to minimize any potential loss to the Government and to the borrower.” A prompt sale keeps the government from having to pay the legal and administrative costs associated with foreclosure down the road and may protect the borrower from incurring a major blemish on their credit history.

But that did not happen. Rather, 13 years passed before a sheriff’s deputy knocked on the door of the woman’s public housing apartment in May and served her with foreclosure papers on the now dilapidated ranch home that’s been overtaken by squatters. The government’s delay hurt the value of its investment and left the woman with a bill far greater than the cost of the loan she initially took out — with additional interest and other fees that had accumulated over those years.

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[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 35 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There's a general concept in civil law that the plaintiff has an obligation to minimize damages, and therefore that he can't sue for costs incurred due to his failure to minimize damages.

For example, consider a tenant who signs an agreement to rent a house for a year, but moves out (and stops paying rent) after only one month. The landlord may be able to sue the tenant for breach of contract: however, the landlord must mitigate damages by making a reasonable attempt to find a replacement tenant for the remainder of the year. The landlord may not simply let the house lie empty for eleven months and then sue the tenant for eleven months' rent.

I'm far from a legal expert, so I don't know if that principle doesn't apply in cases like this or if the borrowers simply don't have the resources to defend themselves in court.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 days ago

IANAL but I imagine when the plaintiff is the government, they get to pick whatever option works out best in their favor under any circumstances. It seems like rules and regulations only apply to us peons .