SUICIDE THREATS OF DISTRESSED BORROWERS SO COMMON ONEWEST BANK GROUP HAD TO ESTABLISH PROCEDURES FOR ALERTING POLICE. LAWS ARE NEEDED TO PROVIDE DISTRESSED HOMEOWNERS WITH ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.
Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 9:34 AM by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon
You remember the March 10, 2010 Beacon story titled:
TAXED TO DEATH. THE TAX - FORECLOSURE - BANKRUPTCY - SUICIDE MACHINE.
I'm following up on that story because the epidemic of foreclosure related suicides is a serious health and safety problem that should not be swept under the proverbial carpet and ignored. We need to create state and/or Federal legislation requiring that an offer of free mental health services be made a part of every foreclosure proceeding.
A March 12, 2010 Wall Street Journal story titled:
about the ghouls at Bank of America taking a woman's parrot, after foreclosing on her house, contained the following paragraph:
"suicide threats from distressed borrowers are so common that one lender, OneWest Bank Group in Pasadena, Calif., had to establish procedures for alerting the police. Lenders' call-center employees are under heavy pressure. 'These people make $14 or $15 an hour, and we ask them to move mountains', said a OneWest executive at an industry conference last month."
Government must work with private sector lenders to provide mental health services to borrowers who are having foreclosure related psychological problems before these folks either threaten to or actually commit suicide. The offer of free mental health services should be part of the foreclosure process. In these foreclosure related attempted and actual suicide cases, we are asking the cops to be social workers, law enforcement officials and, in some cases, combatants against aggressive homeowners faced with eviction who are sometimes armed with handguns, rifles and/or other weapons.
Atr the very least, we must make the attempt to defuse these potentially dangerous situations before they turn violent, require police intervention and result in both physical and property damage to all parties involved. This epidemic of foreclosure related suicide is no less dangerous to the public health and safety than the threat of terrorism, swine flu, drug gangs etc.
