"Chicago’s sub–freezing temperatures in Chicago aren’t the only thing keeping the Tellez family in their home this week. The family is waiting to see if Cook Country sheriffs try to evict them from their home.

The family, supported by activists from the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign (CAEC) and scores of residents in its Northwest side neighborhood, held a press conference December 1 to declare their plans to stay in their home, despite a court order to leave by December 4, 2010.

Silvia and Alvaro Tellez purchased their home in 2006 for $405,000 and got a loan for $326,000 from the bank HSBC. Their interest rate skyrocketed to 8.5 percent after the adjustable rate kicked in two years ago (and meanwhile, the biggest banks are getting money from the federal funds window run by the Federal Reserve at interest rates close to zero). They then attempted to refinance the mortgage with Litton Bank, which assured the family the refinance would go through, and to stop paying the original mortgage."

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