INSIDE EDITION talks to one couple who turned the tables on their bank when the bank tried to foreclose on their home, even though they paid cash for it!
It's a scene that's been playing out across the country: moving vans pull up to a foreclosed property. But this foreclosure drama is far from typical. When one couple's bank tried to falsely foreclose on their home, they turned the tables and actually tried to foreclose on the bank!
It all started when Warren Nyerges and his wife, Maureen, found their dream home. They purchased the home, which was in foreclosure, from Bank of America. But soon after they moved in, a bank employee knocked on the door and served the Florida couple with their own foreclosure notice.
The Nyerges were shocked by the foreclosure because they had paid $165,000 cash for their home– and had the documentation to prove it.
So Warren went to the Bank of America branch in Naples, Florida to straighten things out.
"I had showed them cancelled checks, I had showed them a deed, title insurance, and it just was not enough," Warren said.
Soon, the retired police sergeant and his wife found themselves locked in a legal battle to keep the home they didn't owe a dime on.
"It was just two average folks up against a giant bank, David versus Goliath," Warren commented.
Maureen, a former stockbroker, said she lived in perpetual fear of being evicted: "I just kind of had a vision of them putting the old chain through the front door handles and a master lock on it."
Several months later, a Florida judge finally ruled the foreclosure an error. But the Nyerges troubles did not end there.
Although the court had awarded the couple $2,500 for their time and various out of pocket expenses, the bank refused to pay up.
After two years of fighting, the couple called on attorney Todd Allen to step in. His plan? Foreclose on the bank! A court order gave him permission to actually seize bank property, including chairs, cables, and photocopiers!
Accompanied by sheriff's deputies, the attorney marched into the bank.
"I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect," Maureen recalled.
Allen even hired a moving truck to haul away the bank's stuff! Fortunately, his hardball tactics worked. Within one hour, the bank issued the couple both a check and a full apology.
"We're embarrassed by this chain of events and the trouble this has caused him. We will improve our process to prevent these errors in the future," it said.
The couple can finally rest at ease, knowing they beat the bank at its own game.
"The little guy won here," Warren said proudly.
