How Foreclosure Affects Your Credit Score and Your Life

Former clients of Joan Camerlengo, a Staten Island, N.Y.-based real estate broker, succumbed to foreclosure after a major institutional lender handed them a mortgage they couldn't afford. The mortgage involved 100 percent financing through a fixed-rate first mortgage, as well as a monthly adjustable second mortgage. "Within two months of purchasing their new home, it became unaffordable." Camerlengo explains. That's because the interest rate on the second mortgage adjusted to a level they could not