Communities tell Big Banks: Fix Your Mess!
Iowans Challenge Bank of America and Wells Fargo CRA Ratings
Des Moines, IA - More than 50 members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) filed an official protest Thursday against the U.S. Treasury, and its Comptroller of the Currency office, for betraying their legal obligation to hold banks accountable after the federal agency gave Bank of America and Wells Fargo "Outstanding" ratings for their banking practices under the provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).
Iowa CCI members delivered their written CRA complaint in person to both banks today. CCI members also met with top legal aides to Attorney General Tom Miller about the home foreclosure crisis. Fifteen other community organizations allied with the National People's Action network also filed similar CRA complaints against Bank of America and Wells Fargo today.
"Bank of America and Wells Fargo aren't outstanding, they're outrageous," said Mike McCarthy, an Iowa CCI member from Des Moines, Iowa. "Their subprime and reckless lending practices helped cause an economic meltdown, tore apart the fabric of our local communities and destroyed the personal finances of millions of American families and homeowners. Bank of America and Wells Fargo have failed to meet their obligations under the CRA and deserve a failing grade."<!--more--> Under the provisions of the CRA, banks have a legal and affirmative obligation to serve the convenience and needs of the communities in which they do business with safe and sound lending and investments.
Under the Act, the failure to provide lending and investment services fairly and in a safe and sound manner should result in an unsatisfactory rating, which would limit the ability of the banks to expand by denying their applications for branches, mergers, acquisitions, and additional charters. "Not only did Bank of America and Wells Fargo fail to provide the communities they served with safe and sound lending and investments," CCI member Brenda LaBlanc, "but they, in league with other major bank holding companies, exploited communities all across America by making and investing in the very same predatory and high-cost mortgages that pushed our financial system to the brink of collapse." Iowa CCI members highlighted several key points where the banks failed to meet the safe and sound lending test required under CRA, including:
- Targeting minority borrowers with high-cost subprime loans;
- Using bailout funds to restore billions of dollars in salaries and bonuses to bank executives;
- Investing in payday loan shops that charge as much as 400 percent interest;
- Failing to provide meaningful and sustainable loan modifications, and;
- Engaging in foreclosure fraud.
"We demand that the Treasury and the Comptroller re-open the examination of these banks," McCarthy said. "We want them to hold public hearings in our communities to answer our challenges and to explain why they have ignored their paramount obligation to protect the public from predatory, subprime, and fraudulent lending practices."
This action was part of a weeklong set of actions taking place all around the country.
Click here to download the statement and full CRA challenge document
GRO to Bank of America: Walk the Walk
Columbia, MO – GRO – Grass Roots Organizing members and community leaders gathered at the downtown Columbia Bank of America branch Thursday afternoon. The message for Bank of America: halt home foreclosures, divest from predatory lenders and clean up your mess. The event included a letter delivery, press conference, and march through the downtown area. The event was part of a national week of actions calling on big banks to “Clean up their mess.”
GRO members Graham McCaulley, Shari Korthuis and Fenny Dorsey led the group. The three started the rally by delivering a letter to a representative inside the local B of A branch office. The letter, addressed to national Bank of America President of Global Commercial Banking David Darnell, calls on Bank of America to “immediately discontinue your financial support for the payday lending industry.” As the crowd of participants chanted outside the bank, the local representative agreed to fax the letter to Darnell.
Following the letter delivery, the leaders addressed the crowd of participants and reporters. McCaulley focused on Bank of America’s investments in predatory lending stores. Dorsey addressed home foreclosures: “These greedy banks are getting ready to hand out $144 billion in bonuses,” Dorsey said. “And they still have the nerve to kick families out of their homes…we call a rat a rat. We call a crook a crook. Bank of America, you’re BAD FOR AMERICA.”
Korthuis called out Bank of America executives for repeatedly saying one thing and doing another. “We’ve talked [with them] in meetings, we’ve delivered letters, and they’ve come out in their fancy business suits to quiet us down at rallies. But they’re still talking out of both sides of their mouth.” After reiterating the groups demands that Bank of America stop investing in predatory lending, and stop home foreclosures, Korthuis closed by saying “We know you’re making off rich while the rest of us suffer. We know you say one thing and do another. It’s time to walk the walk!”
Organizer Lily Tinker Fortel closed the press conference by reminding victims of predatory lending and home foreclosures that they are not alone and should not feel ashamed. She emphasized a message that was a common theme throughout the event “We’re going to expose them and we’re going to hold them accountable…Bank of America – We’ll Be BACK!”
The chanting crowd then embarked on a march through downtown Columbia. Onlookers offered nods and verbal encouragement and passing drivers honked in support as the high-energy event wrapped up.
GRO – Grass Roots Organizing is a multi-issue nonprofit social justice organization based in Mexico, Missouri with an outreach office in Columbia. GRO’s Consumers Organized Now! (CON) Coalition is committed to calling the shady practices of Big Banks and predatory lenders. For more information about GRO, call 877-581-9595 or visit our website www.gromo.org.
Watch video coverage of the Missouri >>
Cincinnati Calls For Banks To Fix Their Mess & Announce Campaign To Grade the Banks
Communities United For Action and Citizens Against Loan Sharks will demand that the Big Banks fix their mess and announce their campaign to grade the banks on November 18th, 2010, 2 p.m. at 6507 Glen in Kennedy Heights. The owner of this house went through the foreclosure process but the bank never took possession.
"Fix Your Mess" is the message that community leaders from Communities United For Action (CUFA) & Citizens Against Loan Sharks (CALS) are sending to Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citbank and Chase.
Fed up with rising foreclosures, funding of payday lenders, lack of loans for our neighborhoods, and their unchecked greed costing us eight million jobs and five million homes, CUFA and CALS are saying that it is the people’s time to grade the banks.
“The banks are failing us and our economy,” said Marilyn Evans, Executive Director of CUFA.
“The regulators always give the banks an outstanding rating even though they are failing our neighborhoods,” Roger Davis, President of Communities United For Action. “We feel that it’s time for the people to grade the banks.”
The Mae Richardson, a member of Citizens Against Loan Sharks talked about the emotional and financial stress of losing her home yet still receiving bills and building code violations for the house because her lender, Chase, did not take possession of the house.
“This was my father’s house and I tried to work with Chase to keep it out of foreclosure,” said Ms. Richardson. “I was told that this house no longer belongs to me but the property was never transferred at the Court House. Now I am getting letters from the City telling me to fix it up and I am getting property tax and water bills. This is the bank’s mess, not my mess.”
Thursday’s press conference was part of a national campaign from November 15th – 19th with community groups across the country to demand that the big banks fix the foreclosure crisis they created and halt foreclosures until homeowners have a real chance to save their homes and restore our communities.
“We are joining the national campaign to demand that the big banks clean up their act,” said Mary Bridges, Citizens Against Loan Sharks. Some of the issues raised nationally include:
• Fix the Foreclosure Crisis
• Invest responsibly and sustainably in our communities to create jobs.
• Stop bankrupting taxpayers and communities
• End discriminatory lending practices
• Provide workplace protections to employees.
“We are also announcing our campaign to grade the banks, said Ms. Bridges.
Communities United For Action (CUFA) is a multi-issue, grassroots organization that brings together people from various communities to work on common issues such as environmental justice, predatory lending, vacant buildings, the cost of energy, and the Community Reinvestment Act. Most recently, CUFA’s testified at a hearing of the Federal Reserve regarding expanding the Community Reinvestment Act.
Citizens Against Loan Sharks is an organization made up of homeowners victimized by predatory lending, in danger of foreclosure, or concerned about the vacancies and blight in their communities because of foreclosures.
Read media coverage from the Ohio action >>
Alliance to Develop Power Kicks off Campaign to Take Back our Homes Demanding: That Big Banks Fix Their Mess
Springfield -- Taking matters into their own hands, community leaders and members of the Alliance to Develop Power descended on the condemned home of Diane McCloud at 24 Alden Street to clean up the illegal dumping on her property and demand the big banks clean up their mess and start investing back into the community.
The home, owned by Diane McCloud since 1986, fell into disrepair after Ms. McCloud, a widower, received a series of predatory loans. The home was condemned by the City of Springfield in 2006, but Ms. McCloud continues to pay her mortgage on a home she does not live in. The property has since become a dumping ground and blight on the community.
“I purchased my home in 1986 for $61,000 and in 24 years I have never missed a payment. But now Litton Loan Services says I owe over $80,000. How is that possible?” said Diane McCloud. “I used to feel like I failed my family. But now I realize that it’s the Big Banks that are failing me and other everyday people like me who are struggling to make ends meet.”
50 ADP members filled a large dumpster with debris dumped in the back yard, cut down trees, and cleaned the grounds of the property. In addition to the massive community clean up, community called on Larry Litton, CEO of Litton Loan Services, owned by Big Bank Giant Goldman Sachs, to modify Ms. McCloud’s mortgage and end their predatory practices.
“Big Banks crashed our economy and then they received $1.2 trillion in bail out funds. But now its back to business as usual and they are gearing up to pay themselves $144 billion in bonuses while countless of Americans will lose their jobs, home and families.” said Keya Alvarez, ADP Co-Chair. “We are here to say fix your mess or we will do it for you.”
“These banks are ruining our neighborhoods with their predatory loans and foreclosed homes that become dumping grounds. If the banks won’t clean up their mess, we will.” said Joel Rodriguez, ADP leader and Crew Chief of United for Hire, ADP’s worker owned construction company that led the clean up effort.
Fix your Mess is the message that community leaders from the Alliance to Develop Power are sending to Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Chase as well as the countless loan servicing companies that market predatory high interest mortgages, resulting in the massive rate of foreclosures in Springfield, the highest in the state of Massachusetts.
Litton Loan Services, owned by Goldman Sachs, was fined $61 million by the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General in May of 2009 for their illegal lending practices.
Today’s action is part of the national Showdown in America campaign national week of action from November 15th – 19th.. 25 Community groups across the country are demanding that the big banks fix the foreclosure crisis they created and halt foreclosures until homeowners have a real chance to save their homes and restore our communities.
“We are joining the national campaign to demand that the big banks clean up their act,” said Keya Alvarez, ADP co-chair and National Campaign spokesperson. National demands on the Big Banks include:
• Fix the Foreclosure Crisis
• Invest responsibly and sustainably in our communities to create jobs.
• Stop bankrupting taxpayers and communities
• End discriminatory lending practices
• Provide workplace protections to employees.
The Alliance to Develop Power / ADP is a membership based community organization in Massachusetts. ADP has successfully reclaimed social and economic power through cooperative economic development, resulting in the creation of business and capital holdings collectively valued at $80 million and employing over 100 people. ADP works for just policy reform at the local, state and national levels and is an affiliate of National Peoples Action.
National People’s Action, PICO National Network, Service Employees International Union, Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, and the Industrial Areas Foundation South East are joining together to take these messages directly to the Big Banks on the national level.
Watch media coverage of the Massachusetts action >>
Read media coverage of the Massachusetts action >>
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