Fannie Mae won’t foreclose on Ohioan

AKRON (AP) — Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae has said it will forgive the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff’s deputies attempted to evict her.

Addie Polk’s plight was cited by Cleveland-area Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the U.S. House floor Friday before representatives voted to approve the enormous rescue plan to save the financial industry and prop up the economy. Kucinich, a Democrat, voted against the plan.

Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk’s mortgage and allow her to return to the Akron home where she’s lived since 1970.

“Just given the circumstances, we think it’s appropriate,” Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said, citing Kucinich’s statement and news reports. “It certainly made our radar screen.”

Polk remained in Akron General Medical Center and was expected to recover from chest wounds suffered Wednesday.

She became the home’s sole owner in 1995 when her husband died, then took out a mortgage loan in 1997 and refinanced several times after that, court and property records showed.

Countrywide Home Loans filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk’s home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff’s auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.

Polk’s longtime neighbor, Robert Dillon, climbed through her window and found her lying in bed bleeding with a gun next to her. He visited Polk in the hospital on Friday.

“She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she’s had time to think about it,” Dillon said.