TALLAHASSEE — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is facing foreclosure on a Tallahassee house after missing five months of mortgage payments, according to a lawsuit filed in Leon County Circuit Court. But Rubio's campaign spokesman said Rubio and David Rivera, a U.S. House candidate from Miami who co-owns the home with Rubio, have paid $9,200 owed to Deutsche Bank and the foreclosure has been withdrawn.
No documents in the court records on Thursday indicated that the foreclosure had been shelved. Phone calls to Rivera and a bank attorney were not returned.
"It's been resolved," Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos said.
Rubio's personal spending has been an issue in his high-profile U.S. Senate campaign after records showed he charged $16,000 in personal expenses to a Republican Party of Florida credit card.
Rubio said he paid those charges, but later repaid the party $3,000 after a Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times report earlier this year showed he double-billed state taxpayers and the party for eight plane tickets he bought when he was a state legislator.
Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, has described Rubio's personal finances as a "house of cards." Crist, however, has said little about Rubio since ending his own Republican primary campaign when polls showed him trailing Rubio in the polls.
The bank started foreclosure proceedings for a home that Rubio and Rivera, both Miami Republicans, lived in when they traveled to Tallahassee as state lawmakers.
They bought the 1,200-square-foot house for $135,000 in 2005. They received an adjustable rate mortgage that allowed them to make interest-only payments until April 1, 2010.
Burgos said Rubio and Rivera began withholding payments in February because of a dispute about how the payments would be calculated after the interest-only period ended. He said that issue has been resolved.
Court documents show Rubio and Rivera owe the bank $138,394 with interest and late charges.
Burgos said the two men have been trying to sell the house.
"There was a contract on the house and one of the final pieces was to get a clarification on the amount that was owed," Burgos said. "Now they can move on to closing."
