Jereline Sanders becomes emotional while speaking about how she nearly lost her house when she became ill, lost her job and got into credit trouble earlier this year. Without the help of the Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise service she believes she would currently be homeless.Jereline Sanders raised both her younger brothers and her two daughters by working a variety of jobs over the past half-century.
But when a heart attack and failing dental implants forced her to quit cooking and give up her beauty shop and clothing store, the 69-year-old Eastdale woman also thought she was going to lose her Ridgemont home.
“I’ve lived here nearly 41 years and I love this house, but I really was afraid when I started getting foreclosure notices,” Sanders said.
After refinancing and then defaulting on a refunding loan, Sanders was among 3,576 property owners in metropolitan Chattanooga who got a bank notice last year indicating they would lose their property unless they paid their delinquent mortgages, according to figures released today by RealtyTrac.
With the help of a federally funded counseling program from Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, Sanders managed to rework her loan and keep her house.