VOA常速英语2008年-Thousands of Subprime Borrowers Seek Financial

By Jeff Swicord
Cleveland, Ohio
18 March 2008
 

The subprime mortgage crisis in the United States has rattled¹ financial markets around the world. The crisis has triggered home foreclosures across the country, causing thousands of Americans to lose their homes, devastating² entire communities.  In this, the first part of a three part series, Jeff Swicord looks at the human cost of the subprime crisis in Cleveland Ohio, one of the hardest hit areas in the country.

"I have things that are going to my friends..." says Karen Lucas, who has owned a house near Cleveland, Ohio for 35 years.  The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office was coming the next day to serve her with foreclosure papers and force her to move.

"We had to refinance because of my husband's company being purchased by another company.  So, we refinanced, and he did lose his job from that company,” she recalls.

Like almost 70,000 other families in the Cleveland area over last five years, Lucas and her husband were not able to keep up with the ballooning payments of their subprime mortgage.

Going through her house she points out improvement projects she had planned, such as a kitchen renovation³.

Lucas had been fighting a four-year legal battle to keep her house.  She filed a final appeal with the court in an effort to hold-off foreclosure for another 30 days.  With hours to go, there was no word from the court.

"I've done my crying," she said. "I've made my peace, and I put it in God's hands."

Cleveland, Ohio was one of America's great industrial cities of the 20th century, a heavy manufacturing town nestled along the banks of Lake Erie.  Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 10 years, and the median income in the state has declined by 10 percent. 

In the late '90s, subprime mortgage lenders set up shop in the Cleveland area. Many people refinanced their mortgages to take advantage of historically low interest rates, and their problems began.

"Sometimes the house [mortgage] would be flipped⁴ [resold] to another company, and we didn't even know," says community activist⁵ Barbara Anderson. "We would still be sending the payment to the old company, and then we would get a call that would say, 'Hey you didn't pay us.'  And we would say, 'Who are you?' 'Well, we are your new [mortgage company]." 

Subprime loans are higher interest rate loans that lenders offer to buyers who do not qualify for lower, prime rate loans.  The loans are often sold multiple times among banks, making it difficult for borrowers to keep track of who owns their loan. Anderson's loan agreement contained clauses that allowed her loan servicer to add on additional fees. "'Future late fees', I don't know what that is but that was tacked⁶ on there," she explains.  "And then other fees, those were never outlined, that was tacked on there."

Her initial seven percent loan was now close to 20 percent. 

With the help of a community organization that works to get people out of bad loans, the Andersons refinanced their loan at a fixed⁷ rate of 5.75 percent with a bank that does not sell its loans. Barbara Anderson is one of the lucky ones.  Cuyahoga County expects more than 20,000 foreclosures in the next year. 

On the day the sheriff was scheduled to serve foreclosure papers, Karen Lucas had no word from the court about her appeal.  As she sat down to talk with VOA, there was a knock at the door. 

The visitor was an officer who was serving Lucas with the foreclosure papers.  She was ordered to vacate the premises⁸ immediately. She went inside to work out the details of her move.  Later, she came out to talk to VOA one last time, holding the judge's decision on her failed appeal.

"This is not justice!" she said. "They are protecting their own, and I am tired of it, tired of it!"  Holding the envelope, she said, “You should read this.” 

It is a scene that will be duplicated thousands of times in cities across the U.S. over the next several years as the effect of the subprime loan crisis ripples⁹ across the country.  Families uprooted¹⁰, lives altered, memories left behind.

1 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

2 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

3 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。

4 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 tacked   

用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝

参考例句：

• He tacked the sheets of paper on as carefully as possible. 他尽量小心地把纸张钉上去。
• The seamstress tacked the two pieces of cloth. 女裁缝把那两块布粗缝了起来。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

9 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

10 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》