Meet Boyle Heights resident Cynthia Szukala, 59, a local victim of the mortgage mess. Profiled in this month's New Angeles magazine, Szukala refinanced her Morrow Place home in 2005 with the help of some nameless broker.
Initially, the couple rebuffed their broker’s calls. But “he kept pestering,” according to Cynthia Szukala, until her husband relented and the broker came over to make a new loan. “We were told this would bring our mortgage down to $1,000 from $1,200,” Cynthia Szukala says. Yeah, things don't end well--two years later, Szukala's husband has passed away from cancer and she's facing foreclosure. More details about her story, and info on the Eastside market, on the link below.
UPDATE, 12:29 PM PST: Reader Both Sides of the Story has posted Szukala's entire loan history in comments. "This is a case of someone living off of their equity, not a bad broker taking advantage of them," he writes.
· Sub-Prime Lending Pain, The Sequel [New Angeles]