Trevor Johnie, a father and former firefighter from St. Lucia, moved to the United States in 1989. He found a steady job with overtime as a truck driver, saved some money and bought a home in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 2006. Life was good.
A year later, the housing bubble burst. Knowing his home wasn’t worth what he paid for it, Johnie tried to work with his bank to avoid going underwater on his mortgage. In the years that followed, Johnie encountered two life-altering events. The first was a call from his sister in the Caribbean who was very sick with cancer and made him promise to take care of her two teenage sons after her death. She passed away a week later, and Johnie used his $15,000 in life savings to bury her. When he returned home to Connecticut, he lost the job he’d had for 11 years.
Within months, the lender threatened to foreclose on Johnie’s home. Despite finding a new job, he was unable to pay what was owed. He could either sell the house with a short sale or surrender it. “The bank had the power,” he said. “I got to the point that if I lose it, I was going to let it go.”
Working with BlueHub SUN helped raise Johnie’s spirits and save his home. But it didn’t happen overnight.
“I reached out during the pandemic, when SUN wasn’t lending,” he said. “Two years later, I received a call.”
Johnie says the SUN team “really put their neck out for me… Who would do that? Even family members wouldn’t go this far for me.”
