Lets help our parents

All their lives, my parents - Randa and Karim - have been successful

professionals. They worked hard, saved for a rainy day, raised us

responsibly and taught us to always be ready to help others. For endless

years during my childhood in Maryland, I remember our mother taking us to cook meals in a homeless shelter every Tuesday,

and when we would later see these homeless people working at the local

store or other local business, my mom would greet them like she would

any neighbor or anyone else in the community. We learned this from her,

to treat everyone the same and recognize ourselves in others. You see

the people in the shelter were normal and hardworking people with big

hearts just like us, but they just couldn't afford housing.

In

1999 my parents bought the house they currently live in, where I was

raised. They continued to work hard and save for a rainy day. But when

that rainy day came, we could not have imagined how bad it would be.

In 2007 at the height of his career and productivity, my father was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, TTP, and had to step back a little from the car business he had launched years earlier with a friend. In 2009, a massive stroke

forced him to stop work completely as he struggled to regain his

memory. He was only 52 years old then. Eventually he was able to make a

full recovery and went back to work for an academic and professional

testing company where things finally seemed to have normalized again,

until layoffs followed in 2013 due to the company posting a heavy loss.

My mother never stopped working throughout and had been the

administrator for the MBA program at George Washington University until

then.

To cut a long story short, my dad then experienced two flare-ups in TTP

that left him in need of care, and my mum left her job. He was able to

make a full recovery and both are back on their feet, each with their

own business: Karim launched an auto dealership, while Randa launched a catering business, Cuisine à Deux.

With both their businesses up and running and doing well, you would

think all would get back on track. But not in the world of mortgage

lenders.

You see over a year ago, my parents' mortgage lender, Wells Fargo,

agreed to modify their mortgage loan agreement by reducing the monthly

payments for one year to allow for recuperation from the medical and

other financial strains my parents had been juggling. At the end of the

year, the unpaid amount would simply be added to the outstanding

mortgage loan, and they would begin paying the higher monthly dues from

then on. But the bank reneged on this agreement in January 2018,

declining to implement the second part of the modification for

technicalities that are downright absurd if not malicious, and are

threatening foreclosure on March 16th if the deferred amount, interest and fees aren't settled in full by that time.

My parents' predicament is this:
1- They have already used up their savings on medical and related expenses, so they cannot put up the required $75,000 in cash.
2-

To sell the house (even if it could be done in such a short time frame)

would not solve the problem as my parents would still need a place to

live, and their credit score today would not allow them to obtain a new

mortgage or qualify for a rental, despite the fact that both their

businesses are doing well.

All they are asking for is the

opportunity to continue with their mortgage payments at the higher level

that Wells Fargo had indicated would become applicable now, after the

one-year modification. But they are being denied that right, the bank

arguing that they already sold the loan off to Freddie Mac, which they

say has denied the renewal. The only option is to settle what had been

deferred by March 16th in full so as to continue with regular mortgage payments thereafter.

I am not asking you to help my parents for free: My

mother is offering every one of you who donates from the DC-Metro area

your donation's worth of gourmet and organic home-meals or dinner/party

catering.

I am asking that you help my parents so they can continue to help themselves.

In gratitude,