Wells Fargo Has Blood on Its Hands: Desperate Man Commits Suicide After Shocking Foreclosure

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This story is just...wow. I think it illustrates how "the system" just people down. What the man did was awful, he has left his wife to not only deal with losing their home but now grieving him. The bottom line though, it was all so easily avoided, at no time was this the fault of the doomed couple...they never missed a payment.

The quick version of this terrible story is that Norman and Oriane Rousseau of Newbury Park, California were scammed into a predatory mortgage. But they made their payments anyway, always paying with a cashier’s check in person at the same branch. Then one day the bank misapplied their payment and said they still owed the money. This started a long, nasty process that led to the bank evicting the Rousseaus from their home.

Here’s the shocker: right at the start the Rousseaus came up with proof that the bank had received the payment and had cashed the check. But the bank continued to claim it had missed the payment, gave the Rousseaus the runaround, started applying fees, and used it as an excuse to foreclose on the house anyway.

The Rousseaus fought back, the bank dragged it out for so long and pulled so many tricks, getting its way every step of the process, until this last Sunday Norman Rousseau finally gave up and shot himself in despair – two days before the scheduled eviction, Tuesday, May 15. (The Rousseau’s lawyer just said he was able to win a 2-week delay.)

It is a tragic story, but when you dig into the details it becomes much worse.

This poor family was given the run around time and time again and the court did absolutely nothing to help them even though it was very clear they weren't in the wrong.

In May 2009 the bank claimed the couple had missed their April payment. They proved they had made a payment in person at the bank, using a cashier’s check and that the check had been cashed by the bank. The bank then claimed they had ordered a stop payment on the check, even though a cashier’s check payment cannot be stopped.

Wow. Just....wow.

This needs to go viral. People should know how easily the banks can manipulate information.

How can you even protect yourself from something like this?

Wells Fargo is not responsible for his death.
However wrong Wells Fargo is, He still pulled the trigger.

Such a horrible ending for such an ordeal, but I think the man should have just counted his losses and walked away. As bad as that sounds, now he probably put his family under more stress AND if he was the sole provider for his family, it now creates more difficulty.

reply to post by GmoS719


Said like a Wells Fargo employee much, sheesh.

Ya maybe not in a physical sort of way, but they were the ones who got this man too the end of his rope, and too the depths of despair, where instead of fight on he lost hope and gave up.

Too me they might as well have pulled the trigger, i don't wish hurt upon no one but your ignorance almost has me wishing this exact circumstance on you, see where you end up.

My heart goes out to the man and his family, sadly this isn't gonna be first or last time we hear this exact story. Sad times we live in...

SaneThinking

reply to post by GmoS719


So that's your takeaway from this story?

Of all the possible responses, this is what you want to communicate to the world after reading this.

People will never cease to amaze me.

Originally posted by GmoS719
Wells Fargo is not responsible for his death.
However wrong Wells Fargo is, He still pulled the trigger.

Your reply almost deserves as big a "Wow!" as the original OP.

So I guess that according to your philosophy, if someone backs you up to the edge of a cliff with a pitchfork until the point where you must either jump or get skewered, if you do decide to jump, the guy with the pitchfork bears no responsibility? Come on now, you can do better than that. It's OK to blame those responsible even if they are a beloved corporation.

To the OP, F&S Thanks for highlighting another example of the inhuman corporate mentality that demands profit for shareholders with complete disregard for all other concerns, even human life. How can anyone wonder what's wrong with America today? It's happening every day right in front of our eyes!

It's just awfull that these things are happening all over. I live in southeast Michigan and stories like this have been the norm for quite a few years now. I have the feeling stories like this will continue to increase and we will also begin to see another word thrown into the mix, Homicide. Unfortunately the banks won't care about their customers committing suicide but, I bet they would start to think differently if these people chose to come in and gun down those responsible for duping and stealing from them before they off themselves. Not saying that is the right thing to do by any means, but suicide just solves nothing. As others have said it will only hurt his loved ones worse especially if he had life insurance that was determined null and void upon suicide like most do.

I hope that change comes soon or we will see muc much more of this and continued unrest will eventually lead to all out chaos. I have a auto loan with Wells Fargo but they have yet to yank my chain around but I have been waiting for trouble to arise.

This is it for me... just classify me a "terrorist" now and put me in the databanks. Put me on the no fly list, and hell.. you might as well send DHS to come to my home and arrest me now.

Anyone who believes in justice should do one thing and one thing only... burn that freakin bank to the ground!!

But hey... that's just me!

And not one of the corrupt devil fat-cats at Wells-Fargo will miss a single second of sleep over such a SAD event here.

The DEVILS in this world who are RUINING peoples lives on this planet need to become EXTINCT.

reply to post by HangTheTraitors


That's the truth, they won't lose sleep over it. According to Twitter and Facebook, the bank, responding to slam e-mails is postponing the eviction. How kind of them. Previous to the email protest they had planned on carrying out the eviction.

thedailykos

Mohamed Bouazizi - Tunisia

Dimitris Christoulas' - Greece

Norman Rousseau - United States

Three lives ultimately snuffed out because there backs were pushed too the wall. Although there names will be lost on us in a matter of days, as the world continues to spin, and some other social issue becomes more prevelant.

But these three men all so lost bye what strikes the world had handed them, they chose to take matters in there own hands, and end there own suffering.

One man sparked a revolution and Tunisia overthrew they're government, one man as a call to arms wakes up whomever had still been asleep in greece with his actions.

And so sadly cause i'm sure this wont make the big sensational news cast. How much effect will the loss of this mans life have moving forward. Unfortunantly this will play out, and only when it's in mass, do i feel it will be an issue for conversation that arises.

Sadly there will be no call to arms, the government will not be overthrown, and the bank i'm sure will not suffer.

I leave you with this though, are we all that far apart? are we worlds away from the strife and despair that others are feeling? Does this mans actions not well up some passion in the rest of us to expose all that is wrong with this picture??? Are we all that unconnected to whats really going on around us???

I for one have a soft spot for anyone who has tried there damdest to succeed in an ever icreasingly hard world to survive in. Some one who played bye their rules, and only when the rules were changed did he ever stumble. That soft spot makes me wish more people actually cared about the well being of one and other. And weren't so caught up in the hub bub they have us follow, and adhear too.

I for one, do care enough to say so, and wish the Rousseau family peace and hope for the future in moving forward, knowing that although at a loss, there are people who feel there pain, and that there husband, father, brother, and friends sacrifice didn't go un-noticed by all, and that his despair will act as further proof something needs to be done to fix a massively messed up system.

SaneThinking

reply to post by SaneThinking


As tragic and enraging as this story is and not so shockingly it isn't in the MSM mainly because they don't want a Tunisia, in my opinion and the real reason they want to censor the internet is because it circumvents the MSM and they have no control over what we share with each other. Which is why I have hope for the opposite of what you say below...

I leave you with this though, are we all that far apart? are we worlds away from the strife and despair that others are feeling? Does this mans actions not well up some passion in the rest of us to expose all that is wrong with this picture??? Are we all that unconnected to whats really going on around us???

We're more connected than ever. Let's keep it that way.

Rest In Peace, Norman Rousseau.

Originally posted by GmoS719
Wells Fargo is not responsible for his death.
However wrong Wells Fargo is, He still pulled the trigger.

How inappropriate do you think it was, to point that out at the current time?

This is why I do not bank at Wells Fargo.......now yes, my mortgage is through them....but the way I pay my mortgage I take the responsibility of Wells Fargo to another step....ya see,

"THEY" have to withdraw the money out of my other account that isn't with their bank.
I post payment electronically....and they pull it out...with a record of every step. The only thing I allocate is how much extra they are allowed to withdraw.

If they want their money, they have to come get it...I wont bring it to them. And if they decide I misplaced something or they wont except a payment due to no fault of my own.....my credit union has a record. SO any court action would allow for me to bring a representative from my credit union into the fray to corroborate that it was their mistake, not mine.

Dot yer i and cross yer t, when dealing with national banks....they are all stupidly crooked and greedy.

reply to post by Kali74


You have to understand that most of the people in charge of the finance sector are Communists. They intend to bring about their revolution not through a violent overthrow, but a planned deconstruction. This is about destroying faith in financial institutions that will lead to them being abolished.



It is the same with the educational system. Destroy it from the inside out; that way after they "win", putting a new educational system in place will be a breeze. Add in the added benefit of a dumbed down population.... But I digress...




*(Stuff like this is why I view Communists as nothing more then blood thirsty psychopaths that belong in jail. In their minds they view this as the "peaceful way", because they aren't resorting to massive bloodshed like they used to. They justify hurting people this way with things like "it is for their own good, and they wouldn't support us before". They are pushing people down, hurting people in a way that the Citizenry en mass will become more receptive towards them)


** (On top of that, the Communist's themselves are being used by the Fascist's, as the step's I illustrated above are actually more likely to lead to a Fascist state, as Fascism is fueled by resentment and hatred. Those emotions actually cause Communism to self destruct, as a truly Communist state can only be created via stupendous wealth at all levels of society[a few generations were material want and hunger simply did not exist. So in essence, the Communist's are sabotaging their own desires for the future by their childish demands for the here and now])

Due to some hard times a few years back, I was also in a foreclosure battle with Bank of America and wow was it ever a pain the a**. I was under A LOT of stress, mountains of stress, and the phone calls and threatening hand delivered letters didn't help at all. They also applied fees upon fees upon fees (upon fees) and they managed to rack up their own bill telling me I owed almost $50,000 in about 8months late fees (LOL how ridiculous is that). In the end I was able to refinance thru a gov program and my home is now safe. But really, honestly, banks of the most EVIL of necessary evils.

I gave up on credit cards about 10 years back due to similar evil, I just honestly hate banks these days.

Originally posted by GrandHeretic
This is why I do not bank at Wells Fargo.......now yes, my mortgage is through them....but the way I pay my mortgage I take the responsibility of Wells Fargo to another step....ya see,

"THEY" have to withdraw the money out of my other account that isn't with their bank.
I post payment electronically....and they pull it out...with a record of every step. The only thing I allocate is how much extra they are allowed to withdraw.

If they want their money, they have to come get it...I wont bring it to them. And if they decide I misplaced something or they wont except a payment due to no fault of my own.....my credit union has a record. SO any court action would allow for me to bring a representative from my credit union into the fray to corroborate that it was their mistake, not mine.

Dot yer i and cross yer t, when dealing with national banks....they are all stupidly crooked and greedy.

I do y auto loan through them the same way. There is an electronic record at every stop. And my bank would back me on that as well. I just hope that is enough. I am glad that I do not own my home right now because of situations like this. I rent from a family friend and any purchase will be done through a land contract so hopefully I will avoid situations like this.

What a tragic story, and just another example of blantant injustice that pushed this poor man, and ultimately his whole family off the deep end and left them hopeless...perhaps he felt he would somehow help his family in death somehow, by bringing "attention" to this matter. It does seem it at least held off the eviction, and perhaps will influence the ultimate outcome of this case, I hope so for his families sake.

Well's Fargo has become absolutely ruthless. I stopped banking with them when they insisted on "holding" my payroll checks I depoisted EVERY week, from a business that banked with them, so how hard could it have been to look up the funds where available from my place of employment that issued the check?

My employer had a substantial about of money invested with them and had banked with them for over 20 years, had borrowed and paid back millions of dollars through his constuction and property management co., My boss came into the office FURIOUS one day, and basically told us that after 20 years of never missing a payment on anything, he was being "sweated" and actually had a person from the bank assigned to over seeing his loans and business records, requiring a mountain of extra work by his office, and monthly meetings with the "new" assigned person to basically harrass him, and actually suggested that if he was willing to put up one of his paid off properties as collateral it would take off the "pressure".

I don't understand exactley how all this works, but as far as I understood, when property values fell, the bank got "nervous", and decided they needed to manage his business....he's a good guy that worked hard, starting out buying and fixing up properties in the 80's and did well, and he did the physical labor for many years until becoming successful, then handling the "buisness" side more.

The point is that it's not only private home owners being cheated and harrassed, In the scheme of things this Co. was a small business that employed about 30 people, and it hit this buisness hard...btw he, ex boss, is a Ron Paul supporter, very in to politics....and I think an example of why the middle class is taking such a big stand.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
How can you even protect yourself from something like this?

Pay off your house. It's what we did, as well as all other debt. As long as you owe someone money they own you and can do with you as they please. The law is on their side.