Ain't it Grande?

From Philly.com: A family's struggle against great debt.

Anthony and Lisa Grande's house stands out in their Levittown neighborhood.

"It's the big house," Lisa said when giving directions.

The Grandes borrowed more than $100,000 - much of it on credit cards - to double its size four years ago because they wanted enough room for their five children and did not want to move.

But now, the Grandes are fighting to stay there, having repeatedly fallen behind on their mortgage payments, which climbed from $1,841 to $2,487.

When they refinanced in January 2004 from a $113,906 fixed-rate mortgage into a $220,500 adjustable-rate mortgage to pay off credit-card and other debt, they were told - like millions of others - that they could refinance before the interest rate jumped.

Then Anthony's health fell apart, his plans to start a business foundered, and another refinancing did not come through.

"To be quite honest, we were probably foolish also," Lisa said.

Lisa recalled a carpenter on their roof during construction stamping a broom and saying so many people went bankrupt expanding their homes. "I knew it then. It's like he cursed us."

It is hard for the Grandes to grasp how they got to their current state from where they were in early 2003.

That's when Anthony lost his job as the general manager of a used-car dealership because the business closed. He figured it was a good chance to expand the house because he wanted "a place for the kids to come home to."

To pay for the additions, the Grandes used a $40,000 bank loan and credit cards.

In January 2004, they did what millions of Americans did during the housing boom to cope with ballooning credit-card debt: they refinanced, though they didn't get enough to pay off their credit cards.

The new loan - with no income verification, according to Anthony - increased their monthly payment from $950 to $1,841. The introductory interest rate was 7.75 percent for two years.

Anthony's plans for a partnership did not work, so he decided to open his own lot on Route 13 in Levittown and sank in $65,000.

Legal fees and drug-rehabilitation expenses mounted for Anthony's son from a previous marriage, reaching $84,000, Anthony said.

Despite the refinancing in January 2004, the Grandes still had $118,628 of debt on 24 credit cards, according to a bankruptcy filing in October 2005.

"We probably lost track," Lisa said of the number of credit-card checks they used. "They just kept sending us checks."

Last fall, Anthony was granted disability benefits. His monthly benefit is $1,147, less than he used to earn in a week. "I was always a go-getter," Anthony said. "I just feel so whooped."

The whole affair has shattered Anthony's sense of himself. "I was always hustling. I always worked. Now I can't do anything. I feel like a jerk," he said.

We should first amuse ourselves by the thought of the Grandes doing an "expansion". Not to mention that they are mucho grande themselves. And of course, they live in the "big" house.

Any more "grandes" in there and we'd be looking at an ad for Starbucks.

Now, on with the show.

This is like the jackpot of bad decision making.

Expanding your house and taking on debt while you're out a job? 24 credit cards? Lost track of checks? $100K+ in consumer debt? Son in rehab? Opening a used car dealership? Disability?

And the carpenter put a malocchio!

This is like a bad melodramatic 19th-century Italian opera.

In January 2006, the interest rate jumped to more than 10 percent and the payment to $2,220. Six months later, it was up to $2,487, and with Anthony's health problems keeping him out of work, they fell behind.

Pennsylvania's Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program helped them get caught up in August 2006. But after spending too much for Christmas in 2006, they fell behind again early last year.

Yeah, the "Emergency Mortgage Assistance". But it was Christmas. What could they do, les pauvres petites?

Lisa, 45, said it's been incredibly hard dealing with Option One. "You could never talk to the same person, and then whoever you had next tried to get more out of you," Lisa said. She recalled how one service representative told her: "I don't want to hear your hard luck story. I want a check."

Oooh, nasty, babykins. Isn't that just nasty?

Tell you what Lisa, honey! Go have a canoli. After that Oprah will bring your some tea and cookies, and give you a day at the spa. Everything will work out just fine.