foreclosure victims

New YorK (CNNMoney.com) - Mortgage borrowers hurt by the Gulf oil spill may qualify for temporary relief from paying their mortgages, without fear of losing their homes.

Citigroup's CitiMortgage unit announced Wednesday that it would suspend all foreclosure sales and filings for 90 days, through Sept. 17, on its Gulf properties. The policy applies only to first mortgages on homes that are within 25 miles of the coast.

Fannie Mae, the government-supported mortgage company, also touted its own relief policy Wednesday, saying that servicers of Fannie-backed loans may immediately suspend or lower payments on mortgages for borrowers whose income or property were affected by the spill.

"This was a reiteration of special relief policies that Fannie Mae has had for a while," said Janis Smith, a spokeswoman for Fannie.

"Borrowers who hope to obtain relief under this policy should call their servicers right away," Smith said. "They should not sit around waiting for a call."

Under the Fannie Mae program, servicers can offer to postpone or lower payments for up to 90 days, during which the servicer is expected to verify the borrower's income loss or the damage the oil spill may have done to their property.

Freddie Mac, the other government-supported mortgage giant, will grant up to six months forbearance to victims of the oil spill.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Money problems and marital troubles were being investigated as possible motives in a couple's murder-suicide and the critical wounding of their 3-year-old son, police said.

The boy, who hid behind a trash can in the backyard for more than 12 hours before he was rescued Monday, remained in critical but stable condition, recovering from at least three bullet wounds to his hip, shoulder and torso, Sgt. Rick Martinez said,

The boy's father, Wayne Zickefoose, 51, shot his 39-year-old wife Herminia Zickefoose Sunday night and tried to kill his two sons, police said. The 3-year-old was trapped in a corner of the backyard. A shot aimed at his 5-year-old brother missed. The boy was inside the house, and the shot was fired through an open doorway, Martinez said.

The family had money troubles and their home was in foreclosure, police said.

The home was purchased in 2001 with help from a loan backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to records obtained by The Orange County Register.

In 2007, the couple borrowed $462,000 from Countrywide Home Loans and began missing mortgage payments on that loan last year. The bank sent a notice in March that the home could be sold at public auction on April 1. At the time, interest and other charges added to the main loan had pushed the debt on the mortgage to nearly $500,000, the newspaper reported.

Civil court records also show that a woman identified in one case as Hermie G. Zickefoose and in another as Herminia Zickefoose had amassed more than $26,000 in debt on four credit cards, according to the Register.

The shooting was discovered Monday when a co-worker of Wayne Zickefoose stopped by because he had failed to show up for work at an auto body shop.

The 5-year-old boy came to the door and told the co-worker his parents had been shot. The co-worker's wife, who was waiting in a car, called 911, Martinez said.

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