Readers: For a while I’ve been trying to get Wells Fargo to help an elderly woman remain in her home, which is what I thought President Obama was also trying to do. Here’s the latest note from the woman’s son.
Dear John: Well, it looks like Wells Fargo was not willing to help or negotiate with my mom. She just got a letter in the mail stating that if she doesn’t pay $8,000 by July 25 they’re going to start foreclosure proceedings.
This has been going on five to six months with no resolution, and my mother, who suffers from very high blood pressure, has not slept since this has been going on. At 76 years old, that’s not a good thing.
It looks like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. And they are just looking to grab the house with over $350,000 in equity. They refuse to negotiate [even though at] the very beginning they said she qualified for a lower payment.
I faxed over to the central office documents that they asked for, and I always got a call saying that they’re not the right ones or insufficient. I see this as a cold and calculated grab for my mother’s home for the past 45 years. J.C.
Dear J.C.: So I guess it is true. Some bankers really are jerks.
But now at least my readers know that they should avoid doing business with Wells Fargo, which apparently doesn’t care if it gets bad publicity or if it is called a nest of jerks.
Let me know if anything changes after they’ve been humiliated here again.
I’d suggest you hire a lawyer, but I realize that would hurt your mother’s finances even more. So I’ll ask if any lawyer near Bellmore, NY, would like to handle this matter pro bono. It’ll probably get you into heaven, or at least a pad for your résumé: a nice mention in my column.
Dear John: You recently proposed letting people use their retirement money as a way to stimulate the economy.
I think Obama will not approve this, since it means less taxes [going to] the government.
Then again, for an early retiree with a decent 401(k), good Social Security and a small pension, this kind of break would be a game changer.
This is so simple: Since Congress cannot relate, people should have another way to get this done. This nation is going down quickly. K.Z.
Dear K.Z. To be more precise, what I proposed was that people should be able to use a portion of their retirement money — 401(k)s, IRAs and the like — so that we can stimulate an economy that isn’t responding to anything else.
The details of my plan can be worked out later.
But I have suggested that people be allowed to withdraw this money at a beneficial tax rate, not no tax rate at all.
So actually, my idea would bring revenue into the US Treasury.
Opposition will come from Wall Street, which manages IRA and 401(k) accounts for the public. If we were to allow people to use this retirement money to, say, buy a house, Wall Street would lose assets that it is managing.
However, Wall Street would ultimately gain because anything that helps the economy will eventually benefit people’s ability to save and invest. So the appreciated assets that would come from my plan would find their way back to investment firms.
Plus, Wall Street and its banking subsidiaries are holding a lot of bonds that are lower in value because of the tough real estate market. If my plan allows people to buy houses with some of their retirement money, it will help the balance sheets up and down the Street.
Send your questions to Dear John, The NY Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com.