'How Our Home Was Saved From Foreclosure'

By Les Christie

NEW YORK -- Tamera Hewlett-Vallejo and her husband, Tom, came within a whisker of losing their Sacramento, Calif., home in a foreclosure auction last month. But as a result of the $26 billion national mortgage settlement, the Vallejos were given a last-minute reprieve.

Their mortgage lender, Bank of America, called off the auction, then offered to slash the couple's mortgage by more than $85,000 and cut their interest rate to 4.6 percent from 6.7 percent. As a result, the couple's mortgage payment would be $570 cheaper at about $2,100 a month.