Bank Repossesses Wrong House, Sells Off Homeowner's Stuff
An Ohio bank is refusing to reimburse a Vinton County woman whose house they unjustly repossessed while she was out of town.
Katie Barnett recently returned home after being away for two weeks to find that the lock on her door had been changed. She crawled in through the window to find all of her stuff missing.
Barnett suspected she had been robbed — and she wasn't too far off.
It seems that, while Barnett was gone, the First National Bank of Wellston arrived at her place of residence, broke in, and took possession of all her belongings, including the house.
Except, as it later turned out, they had the wrong address.
"They told me that the GPS led them to my house," Barnett told 10TV. "My grass hadn’t been mowed and they just assumed."
Phoning the local police to report the incident did Barnett little good, as the McArthur Police Chief refused to investigate and considered the case closed.
But for Barnett, the ordeal is very much ongoing.
With all of her stuff either sold off by the bank or thrashed, the homeowner presented the bank's president with an $18,000 estimate for restitution.
He refused to pay up.
"He got very firm with me and said, ‘We’re not paying you retail here, that’s just the way it is,’" Barnett recalled. "I did not tell them to come in my house and make me an offer. They took my stuff and I want it back."
The bank's president claims he is trying to "come to terms" with Barnett, but she denies this.
"I’m getting attitude from them," she said. "They’re sarcastic when they talk to me. They make it sound like I’m trying to rip the bank off. All I want is my stuff back."
Earlier this month a Texas man had a similar horror story to tell after the city of Fort Worth sent a demolition crew to his house by mistake, and he returned home to an empty lot.
