Bank forecloses wrong home

An Ohio woman was shocked to come back from holiday to discover the bank had mistakenly foreclosed her house and sold her belongings.

The Huffington Post reports that all Katie Barnett’s possessions disappeared when Wellston First National Bank confused her house with the one across the street, foreclosed it, changed the locks and then sold or destroyed everything inside – all while she was away for two weeks.

“They told me that the GPS led them to my house. My grass hadn't been mowed and they just assumed,” Barnett told a local Ohio TV station.

To add insult to injury Barnett claims the list she provided the bank of items she now needs replacing, totaling $US18,000, has been met with ridicule from the bank’s president.

The bank has offered an apology to Barnett and expressed a desire to compensate her for inconvenience and loss. However, the bank claims the list of items Barnett claims they took is inconsistent with the bank’s own records.

Apparently this is not the first time such an incident has happened in America. In September 2012, a man’s California holiday home was destroyed when it was mistakenly foreclosed.

According to the Huffington Post more than 50 lawsuits have been filed against banks and subcontractors who have entered and foreclosed the wrong properties.