How I almost lost my house

The banks are halting foreclosures, and some people across the country are sighing with relief. I know how they feel. Back in 2007, I was one of them.

If you haven't heard the news, on Friday the 13th, a lot of unlucky people received some lucky news. Two of the country's biggest banks, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc., announced that they are stopping the foreclosure proceedings while the Obama administration hammers out its plans to try and help more Americans save their homes. And it's hardly a permanent stay-of-execution. J.P. Morgan Chase is only halting new foreclosures for owner-occupied home loans until March 6, and Citgroup until March 12, or sooner if the Obama administration finalizes the details of its loan modification program earlier.

This temporary moratorium came about just days after bank executives were brought into the House of Representatives. The chief executives from Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo were all on hand, and by all accounts, it wasn't pretty.