Sometimes fairy tales really do come true.

John Davis, a hard-working auto mechanic from South Carolina, was perhaps just one day away from losing his home to foreclosure.

Then, while stopping to get his three-year-old daughter some chicken nuggets and french fries, he purchased a lotto ticket. It turned out to be a winner … to the tune of $200,000.

It’s an amazing reversal of fortune that left him gasping for air, according to KSDK.com:

“Took my breath away. A few of the people at work came over and I said am I seeing things? They said no you won the lottery…. I went to church Sunday with my daughter, both my daughters and I knew I had the hearing Wednesday for the foreclosure and I just please you know throw me a bone.”

That’s a big bone — especially knowing that before he struck it (relatively) rich, Davis had just $6 in his checking account.

Davis intends to pay off all his debts and put cash aside to send his two daughters to college.

And they lived happily ever after.

Ever wonder what it looks like on the other end of the line?

New York Times today published an article, “Voices of Foreclosure Speak Daily About Desperation and Misery,” which details the massive customer call center that lending giant Bank of America has assembled in Simi Valley, Calif., to handle the deluge of inquiries from distressed homeowners nationwide.

More than 4,000 employees, many of whom have to be at their desks as early as 5 a.m., field about 50,000 calls per day, according to the report.

To date, the bank, which handles 20 percent of all home loans in the United States, claims that it has made more than 700,000 loan modifications in the last two years, “including 85,000 under the [Home Affordable Modification Program].”

That’s a lot of calls. And it appears that largest mortgage service in the nation is increasing its troop levels significantly to “ease a wave of more than two million foreclosures.”

To contact Bank of America about an existing mortgage or any other issue you can find important numbers right here.

It is a “new legal specialty whose strategies and techniques are still being worked out,” but it goes a little something like this, according to the Miami Herald:

“For instance, if the mortgage was $500,000 and is reduced by the bank to $200,000, the client would owe Ticktin 40 percent of $300,000, or $120,000, minus any legal fees paid by the losing bank as well as any monthly sums paid to the law firm. Clients would be attracted to this arrangement because they might save nearly $200,000 and avoid foreclosure.”

The flip side of this token:

“For any of this to happen, of course, he has to win his cases. Successful foreclosure litigation can take years, and even if the banks are under fire few believe they will go out of their way to make it any easier. But even if people in foreclosure never win a settlement from a bank, they could stay a few more months in their homes by filing a lawsuit.”

There are some lawyers who call it “creepy,” “queasy” and “crass.” However, for those in financial distress who really want to fight to stay in their homes — and can’t afford to pay excessive attorneys fees — this is at least one option to consider.

To each their own.

Influential New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez raises the possibility in an open letter to major lenders:

“It is simply inexcusable that proper oversight proceedings were not in place, especially when dealing with matters as monumental as the seizure of a family’s home…. At least one credit rating agency, Fitch, states that it believes this problem is widespread among banks and servicers, which raises the question of whether other banks should impose a moratorium until this lack of oversight is corrected.”

JPMorgan Chase and Co., Bank of America Corp. and Ally Financial Inc (formerly known as GMAC) are currently investigating “robo signing” or “rubber stamping” thousands of foreclosure documents, which essentially means they foreclosed on homeowners without actually reviewing the cases.

That’s a major problem. And there’s no telling how deep it may run at this time.

Is halting all foreclosures across the board until the investigations are complete the solution? Or will it just encourage more homeowners to stop paying their mortgages without fear of potential consequences?

Decisions, decisions.

Photo by Charles Dodds via Flickr using a CC-BY-NC-ND license.