WHDH, the Boston NBC affiliate, reports that a woman committed suicide because she thought that her mortgage lender was on the verge of foreclosing on her house. There are questions about whether she knew the mortgage company had granted her an extension. But those questions were not resolved before she took her life.
The Patriot Ledger reported that she faxed a suicide note to her mortgage lender. It excerpted her fax: "By the time you foreclose on my house I'll be dead." It also indicated that a suicide note found next to the body urged the woman's husband and son to "take the insurance money and pay for the house."
The woman and the mortgage company did not communicate clearly. The Patriot Ledger noted that the woman had asked the mortgage company for an extension and been granted one. Yet interested buyers showed up at the property expecting an auction while her body was still inside. It also interviewed a neighbor who said that her husband, a plumber, had replaced the backyard deck on the couple's home so he must have had some money.
As the details of this tragedy sort themselves out, though, one thing is clear. With three million foreclosures expected in America, the stress on families is intense. And not all of them will be able to cope with it.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-23-2008 @ 7:00PM
william lindblad said...
Peter, it's not 1929 yet. I do expect that there will be many deaths due to accident this winter. I doubt that there will be too many reading about wood stoves and space heaters on the finance pages, but I can say that they are safe when used properly and extremely dangerous when not. Alternative fuels will be big this year and there will be a substantial increase in death by fire.