Foreclosure only part of family's troubles

The Baltimore Sun

Efforts are under way in Howard County to help Kwaku Atta Poku, the Columbia cab owner who lost his home to foreclosure through no fault of his own, but for now he and his family continue to struggle financially.

Niel Carey, 75, a retired Ellicott City teacher who has used Atta Poku's sedan service, said he was moved to create a fund to help Atta Poku through Howard County's Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center.

County officials are also investigating whether they can help Atta Poku, 55, his wife and three small children, who are searching for a new place to live while he works to rebuild his AAAA Star taxi business.

But his predicament defies most that confront public officials because he owns a business and earns a living, yet is imperiled by high debt and a ruined credit rating. The family needs to find new living quarters but is without savings or good credit.

The daily emotional stress is also hard to bear, Atta Poku said.

"It's hard for me to understand that I did nothing wrong and this is happening to me," said Atta Poku, who said he has been getting dunning notices recently for $2,700 in allegedly unpaid condominium fees for the townhouse he lost in a foreclosure sale in March 2005.

He said he has given away his old living room set and other furniture in two storage cubicles because he could no longer afford the rental fees, and the stress has forced him to seek medical treatment for high blood pressure, though he has no health insurance. He's taking blood pressure medication, but he can't afford more doctor visits.

"All of a sudden, I'm helpless to help my children. I want to live my life the way I used to do, without being dependent on anybody," he said, explaining that in his native Ghana, someone who can't take care of his family is seen as "a useless person," which is how he feels sometimes.

"That's what gets to me," he said. "I have to get up, go to work and come back home and take care of this. I try not to let this get to me. I always hope and pray it will go away."

Carey said he felt moved to intervene and is soliciting more contributors for the fund he created.

"Here is a hard-working person," Carey said. "Lots of times, we needed a cab at 4 a.m. or late at night, and he would always be there and was always punctual.

"He would talk about how great it was to be a citizen of this country. He knew about the government. He knew about our country and the Revolution. He was just very well-informed, and I thought, 'Wow, how fortunate we are to have this hardworking person in this community.' I can't just write a letter to the editor. I've got to do more than that to let him know that there are people out there aware of his situation and who will take some steps to help him."

Atta Poku moved to Howard County in 1994 and built a small cab business, bought a townhouse in 2000, got married and began a family, only to lose the house to foreclosure. He became a citizen in 2005. He and his family were evicted from the home in August 2006. His credit was ruined, and he is heavily in debt, though even his creditors agree he was not at fault.

Atta Poku tried to fight the foreclosure and the eviction in the courts but was unsuccessful, partly because Maryland law allows a mortgage holder to foreclose in 15 days without proof that the homeowner was notified -- something state officials have said they plan to change. By the time Atta Poku could mount a legal defense, the foreclosure had occurred and the house had been sold to an investor.

His attorneys argue that Atta Poku made every mortgage payment and did nothing wrong. They believe Washington Mutual Inc., the Seattle-based mortgage company that handled the refinancing and that had acquired United Bank Corp., the firm that held the original mortgage, received the settlement check. But Washington Mutual officials insist they were never paid. The title company is out of business, and the settlement agent is serving time in federal prison for stealing clients' money. There is no indication the settlement agent did anything illegal in Atta Poku's case, and he has not been charged with any crime in the case.

The cab owner was unable to prove in court that the mortgage had been paid off because the financial institutions lost the original check and other transaction records.

After a period spent in hotels, a friend obtained a lease for the family on a small townhouse, but that expires in a few weeks. Atta Poku had to borrow from friends to stay afloat and try to rebuild his business, but he has no money to pay debts left from the financial debacle.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said he is looking to see if there is a way for the county to help.

"It's forced us to have a discussion," he said. "Clearly, for somebody else to screw up the title work and this guy to lose his house is troubling."

larry.carson@baltsun.com

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