Bank of America's Holiday Gift to the People: Foreclosure!
written by Paul J Poposky
Living – and Losing – The American Dream
Mary and Mike Boehm were two happy South St. Louis home owners who thought they were living the American Dream. Mary works as a home school teacher, and Mike worked as a division manager for a company contracted to build equipment for the oil industry. Mary and Mike made their house payments, in full, on time; every month.
Things seemed to be going great for the Boehms, that is, until June of 2009 when Mike got laid off. “I was on unemployment for over six months after my former-employer downsized by 80%” Mike said, “and we kept current with our payments, every month during my unemployment. I’ve got work now, but it’s come at a big cut in pay. In Nov of ’09 we realized we needed help.” So the Boehms went to their local Bank of America, and applied for a Making Home Affordable (HAMP) loan modification.
What is HAMP? Remember the program that was supposed to sweeten the bailout of the financial sector, which was supposed to help 8million struggling American homeowners avoid foreclosure by working with lenders to lower monthly payments? The same program which president Obama and Congress spent the past couple years telling us justified shoving the $700billion bailout pill down the American taxpayer’s throat? THAT is HAMP. It’s SUPPOSED to be helping average American homeowners and families coping with economic or medical hardships in the wake of the Great Recession. So how could this happen to Mary and Mike?
In an appeal posted online, Mary Boehm explained how what she and her husband believed to be a lifeline to preserving their American Dream turned into a nightmare: “On November 8, 2009, we applied through Bank of America, and were told we qualified, that we needed to turn in paperwork in order to be permanently approved, but that the entire process should take 45 days.” In a brief interview at the Dec 20th rally, Mary told reporters “we were told to start making trial payments – and we did that – we made every trial payment on time, in full, just like the bank asked” but Mike explained further, “then they started charging us late fees on the difference between our old payments and the trial modification payments… we were doing everything they asked us to. We filled out their applications and all the paperwork two or sometimes three times after they said they lost it or couldn’t find it or never received it.”
At the rally, Mary shared the heart-wrenching account of her family’s now-408 day ordeal with BOA, and how “Not once has Bank of America called us. Every call—the hundreds of calls—we have initiated. Oh, except the other day. Yes, once, they called us, and that was a collection call.” The Boehms allege that BOA never told them “never, at any point” that they could still be foreclosed upon, EVEN if they made all their trial payments on time, during the application and approval process. In her online appeal, May Boehm revealed just how underhanded BOA has been in handling of their case: “we also figured out that Bank of America had posted two of our monthly payments into a Fees Due account, despite the fact that, as we understand it, charging fees for MHA modifications is strictly prohibited by the government.”“You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch…”
Not surprisingly, this is not BOA’s first major incident of holiday Scroogery. Some may remember the Chicago-area Republic Windows and Doors workers who were forced to occupy their workplace and picket BOA in Chicago during the 2008 holiday season after the bank colluded with the owners of Republic to deny workers their severance packages, in violation of federal law. The Republic workers, organized through United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, won that battle through direct action, pressure of public sentiment and media attention.
If stories like these hit close to home, it should come as no surprise. More and more reports of mortgage modification nightmares have been flooding the national media for months, and it’s not just small-time scam artists. Earlier this fall one BOA executive admitted during legal proceedings that she routinely signed up to 8,000 foreclosure notices a month without reading them. This, from the same bank that has, so far, received up to $50billion in taxpayer bailouts from the federal government.
Just last week 22 were arrested in downtown Los Angeles during a demonstration outside Chase Bank, protesting unfair home foreclosures. Once again, a large bank (another recipient of taxpayer funded bailouts) and the HAMP program were front and center.
“Fired Up, Ain’t Takin’ No More!”
Understandably fed-up with BOA, Mary and Mike Boehm again found themselves looking for help, “I contacted the Attorney General, and was told to call the housing counselor. Then I had to call Catholic Charities, through HUD, who connected me to the people at MORE, and here we are…”
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE), a grassroots campaign described on its Facebook page as aiming to “organize low to moderate income people across Missouri… around issues relevant to their communities” recognized the urgency of the Boehms’ plight, and its connection to a disturbing pattern of foreclosures emerging across the country. Cathy de la Aguilera of MORE explained “our vision is that all these issues that affect low income people; jobs aren’t being created, our environment is being destroyed for profit, the way the banks are treating the taxpayers who bailed them out… these are issues everyday people can rally around. We need to organize to fight back against corporate greed, and that’s what MORE is trying to do.”
Perhaps the Boehms or the organizers at MORE had heard about the 22 arrested outside Chase bank in L.A., some may have been familiar with the direct actions taken against BOA by the Republic Workers in Chicago or the multitude of smaller direct actions against big banks since, or maybe they’d just been watching Michael Moore movies lately; whatever their inspiration, they were fed up, fired up, and weren’t going to take it anymore.
With a Facebook event ad and a few dedicated activists, Mary, Mike and MORE were able to rally nearly 100 supporters for the demonstration outside BOA in Clayton, MO. The protest was peaceful and many demonstrators brought their children, sang Christmas carols and carried signs with slogans cleverly pointing out the obvious greed of big banks like BOA. The Boehms’ supporters demanded BOA halt their foreclosure of Mary & Mike’s home, cancel the fraudulent late-charges and accept their application for a mortgage modification.
Bank of America: Abandoning the People who Bailed You Out
Even after six protesters were arrested while peacefully attempting to enter the bank, BOA refused to comment, except to say that the Boehms’ HAMP application was “under review” but would “likely be declined… because they are already paying less than the government program would provide.” Bank of America issued this statement from an out-of town office, and assured the Boehms that their home “is not in foreclosure at this time. Once started, the foreclosure process takes some time to complete. There is no immediate threat of their home going to a foreclosure sale.”While BOA may not have had much to say, Mary and Mike Boehm certainly did. Mary said this “The banks were bailed out with the understanding that they’d help average people who are undergoing hardships. I mean, these days, what happened to us could happen to anyone.” Despite everything they’ve been through since their troubles began, Mike Boehm offered this glimmer of hope, and a perhaps an answer to anyone asking the question “what way forward?”
“The banks are getting bigger and bigger all the time… it’s like they run the country, now. I hope… I hope these community actions can get more people to see what’s really going on in our country.”
Very well written, Paul. We need to attract as much attention to these outrages being perpetrated on the American people. Well done!
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