DETROIT
Activists tell Bank of America: Stop foreclosures!
By
Kris Hamel
Detroit
Published Sep 12, 2010 11:19 PM
Members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and
Utility Shutoffs along with other labor, community and student supporters took
on Bank of America on Sept. 1 with a protest outside a main BOA branch in
downtown Detroit. Protesters were livid that BOA, which has received billions
in bailout money from the U.S. government, refuses to modify Michelle
Hart’s mortgage.
WW photo: Bryan G. Pfeifer
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Protesters loudly chanted, “Stop foreclosures, stop evictions! Moratorium
now!” and “Bail out the people, not the banks!” while
hoisting placards demanding relief for the Hart family; a moratorium on
foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs; and a federally funded jobs
program.
Like millions of people around the country, Hart lost her job, fell behind in
her mortgage and then found temporary work at reduced wages. Now she is able
and willing to make her mortgage payments, but Countrywide and Bank of America
refuse to modify her loan to reflect her reduced income. Hart and her elderly
mother, who has pancreatic cancer, face imminent eviction from their home in
Southfield, Mich.
According to a Moratorium NOW! leaflet, “The bank refuses to modify her
usurious, adjustable-rate mortgage, even though it signed a binding Consent
Agreement with the Attorney General’s office on Oct. 6, 2008, to modify
loans. ...
“Ms. Hart has fought in court for a year and a half now to get BOA and
Countrywide to abide by the Consent Agreement and modify her loan. But the bank
refuses and is forging full steam ahead to evict her and her mother. ... BOA
would rather toss them out on the street than negotiate a loan
modification.”
Coalition activists are also targeting BOA for failing to participate in
Michigan’s Help for Hardest Hit Homeowners program. Not a single one of
the major lenders has volunteered for this program, which is supposed to help
unemployed workers receive loan modifications and save their homes. BOA and
other banks and lenders don’t participate because they can receive from
the federal government the full value of foreclosed homes, while families are
put out on the street.
The coalition is asking people around the country to contact BOA’s CEO at
[email protected] and ask why BOA refuses to modify Michelle
Hart’s loan and refuses to participate in the Helping Hardest Hit
Homeowners program.
Bryan G. Pfeifer contributed to this article.
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