Names: Bruce and Sally Batchelder
Hometown: Weed, Calif.
Bruce and Sally Batchelder are cautiously optimistic that they will see some relief from the mortgage settlement.
When they heard that Bank of America was going to reduce the principal of some borrowers' loans by an average of $100,000 or more, they called the bank.
"The operator brought up our mortgage file while we were on the phone and announced that we qualified for the program, saying we were enrolled and on a list to be called near the first of April by a BofA specialist," he said.
That depends on a court approving the settlement, which could take months.
The couple, who are both real estate agents, live near Mt. Shasta in Northern California in a house with a mortgage of about $215,000. Its current value is about $170,000, according to Bruce.
Carrying an interest rate of 7%, the mortgage payments just became too steep and they started to miss payments last fall. They're now two months late.
"We are like millions of others who are both underwater and delinquent with payments, just waiting for the notice of default," said Bruce.
Despite his good fortune, Batchelder can't help but think of other homeowners who are not as lucky.
"People are upside down and trying to refinance and they get stalled," he said. "I see this every day."
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