Family fights foreclosure

When Jody Campbell and her husband Tim bought their Estes Street home a year and a half ago, they never dreamed they would face the threat of foreclosure due to what they say is all a misunderstanding.

Ten people, four chihuahuas, a bird, hamster, fish and two turtles currently live at the residence and are, save for the cloud of uncertainty hanging over them, one big happy family.

"We're one big family here. We all get a long and help each other with the family," Jody Campbell said.

As Campbell sits at her kitchen table, grandsons running past and a dog in her lap, the look on her face constantly changes from confusion to near-despair.

"I don't know what to do," she said.

And listening to her story as it changes from one issue to the next, it's no surprise she's become baffled.

Campbell said that when they purchased their home, it was mandatory that there be an insurance policy in place, and there was one. In April of the following year, they received a letter from their new mortgage company, GMAC based in Waterloo, Iowa, that stated they owed $4,300 on an insurance policy purchased by GMAC through Balboa Insurance Company.

The confusion begins here, explained their lawyer, Jack O'Keefe, because in order to close on a home in the first place, as the seller of 25 Estes St. did, there must be proof of insurance on the home. It is unknown whether GMAC actually gave them notice that a new policy was being purchased. As far as they knew, they had a policy and were paying for it. They claim that the notice of money owed to GMAC was the first they'd heard of a new policy.

Campbell said the couple were then told they had missed mortgage payments, which her lawyer has since proved were paid all along. Campbell said a payment that she made to the company in February of 2006 was actually mailed back to her with no explanation.

Initially set for mid-June, an auction to foreclose on their home has been set for Aug. 13 and has left this family waiting and wondering about what will happen to them next.

"At this point it's a question of, 'are you guys able to acknowledge a mistake here,'" O'Keefe said of miscommunication on the part of GMAC.

Given the confusing nature of the case, he's unsure what the next legal step will be and is hoping to gain some sort of confirmation from GMAC on where they stand. He said he understands the chaos this has all created for Jody and her family.

"The idea of losing your home to a foreclosure is nightmarish even when it's in order," O'Keefe said.

Inquiries made to the mortgage company yielded no definite answers about the situation and no comment could be made on this specific case. Media contact Steven DuPont assured he would look into the issue through the company's Voice of The Customer program, which fields questions and concerns from GMAC customers through a representative.

At the Campbell home, questions and comments abound in the absence of answers.

Jody Campbell's two daughters, Jenna and Felicia Therriault, 24 and 21 respectively, describe the experience as "horrible for everybody." The family is, like any other family, also dealing with other personal matters, like breast cancer, which Campbell's mother was diagnosed with a year ago.

Angela Edwards, 29, lives upstairs in the home with her two kids, works two jobs and has dealt firsthand with the feeling of not knowing where she'll live. Campbell took Edwards in and she is like a daughter there. She watches the kids and helps run the household.

"We all just kind of work together - financially, emotionally," Edwards said, noting that the others are like brothers and sisters to her. Before living there, she said she was depressed and homeless.

"It's because of them I've gotten on my feet again," she said. She doesn't want to see them go through the same thing.

Campbell, who has worked as a teacher for the evening and day program at the Winthrop School for the last 11 years, was born here and lived in Ipswich Housing Authority residences for 13 years while she saved money to buy her own home. Now, with so many others to take care of, she can't bear the thought of having to leave the place she's finally settled in.

"I just don't understand what they're doing to me," Campbell said.