Update: Later on May 15, 2013, Wells Fargo evicted disabled African-American senior Bernetta Adolph after years of struggle.
Update: On May 15, 2013, Merrie Jo and Edzel Musni received a called from Wells Fargo’s HELOC department referencing Miguel Bustos, so there is at least one positive outcome of the meeting.
On May 14, 2013, five Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and supporters from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, and the Occupy the Auctions and Evictions Campaign met with Wells Fargo executive Miguel Bustos regarding Wells Fargo’s predatory and discriminatory lending practices and how to resolve 18 default, foreclosure, and related eviction cases in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Wells Fargo executives who attended the April 10, 2013, meeting of the San Francisco Employee Retirement System (SFERS) Retirement Board and offered repeatedly to meet during the SFERS meeting, then snubbed all the email invitations sent to them after the SFERS meeting was over. So, ACCE and Occupy activists entered a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Center at 2258 Market Street and demanded a meeting with one of the executives.
If Miguel Bustos was sincere in his commitment to make a real effort to settle the 18 cases brought to him, including the case of Bernetta Adolph who faces eviction on May 15, 2013, then the meeting was a successful one.
A protest at the Wells Fargo headquarters at 420 Montgomery Street in San Francisco took place on April 13, 2013, in coordination with a protest earlier the same day at the Wells Fargo Shareholder meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah. These protests are a special edition of the Occupy Wells Fargo Vigil to Stop Evictions.
More than a dozen protestors from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and other organizations infiltrated the shareholders meeting and told Wells Fargo executives what they thought of their practices regarding predatory, illegal, and discriminatory lending and related foreclosures and evictions. Maria Alvarez, whose family is facing eviction by Wells Fargo, got to tell Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to his face that he is a liar, then Wells threw the protestors out of the shareholders meeting.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, about one hundred protestors from the ACCE (San Francisco and Oakland), Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe, and the Occupy the Auctions and Evictions campaign held a memorial service in front of the Wells Fargo Headquarters and History Museum at 420 Montgomery Street. A trumpeter named Elaine played taps and Archbishop Franzo King delighted participants with his saxophone stylings. Various spokespeople read out the names of those who have lost their home or their lives to foreclosures and evictions, spoke in solidarity with those protesting in Salt Lake City, and listed off the many families still struggling to save their homes from Wells Fargo. After each name or section, the crowd chanted repeatedly, “Housing Justice, Home Security!”. Finally, Kathy Lipscomb and Merrie Jo Musni delivered some calalilies to Wells Fargo to complete the memorial service.
To: brenda.wright@wellsfargo.com, alfredo.pedroza@wellsfargo.com, ruben.pulido@wellsfargo.com, john.g.stumpf@wellsfargo.com
Cc: action@occupybernal.org
Subject: Stop the Holiday Foreclosures and Evictions of the “Wells 32”
Dear Wells Fargo staff,
Please take IMMEDIATE action to stop holiday foreclosures and evictions. Please meet the demands listed for each of the 32 families listed below who Wells Fargo has put at risk (Name, Demand, Address, Loan #, Priority) and stop dual tracking by continuing to list foreclosure auctions while negotiating loan modifications:
Bernetta Adolph, Stop eviction (20130303) Rescission of foreclosure sale and fair deal loan modification, 48 Lobos Street, SF, CA 94112, 44793073, 1
Larry Faulks, Undo eviction (20121216), Rescission of foreclosure sale and fair deal loan modification, 25 Cameo Way, SF, CA 94131, 004 6406278, 1
David Lewis, Rescission of foreclosure sale and fair deal loan modification, 442 Carl Street, SF, CA 94124, need loan #, 1
Dollie and Sally Ross, Rescission of foreclosure sale and fair deal loan modification, 1075 Gilman Avenue, SF, CA 94124, 004 37815, 1
Lehmann Brightman, Rescission of foreclosure sale (20130114) and fair deal loan modification, 2434 Faria Avenue, Pinole, CA 94564, 0044126233, 1
Gloria Lomeli (and Alberto del Rio), Stop foreclosure auction (20130131) and fair deal loan modification, 565 Banks Street, SF, CA 94110, 47339080, 1
Guadalupe Schmitt, Stop foreclosure auction (20130211) and fair deal loan modification, 11-13 Santa Marina Avenue, SF, CA 94110, 102484459, 1
Benjamin and Irma Reed, Stop foreclosure auction (20130226) and fair deal loan modification, 2 Warren Drive, SF, CA 94131, , 1
Emilia Hughetti, Stop foreclosure auction (20130228) and fair deal loan modification through loan servicer Chase, 1041 Florida Street, SF, CA 94110, Chase loan #20733507, 1
Kim Mitchell, Postpone foreclosure auction until short sale, 601 Van Ness Ave #244, SF, CA 94102, , 2
Segundina San Juan, Fair deal loan modification, 1074 Huron Avenue, SF, CA 94112, 00048634281, 2
Maria and Washington Davila, New owner must keep Davilas as tenants under same rental conditions as before, 4255 Folsom Street, SF, CA 94110, , 2
Armand and Maria Mejia, Stop foreclosure auction (20130204) and fair deal loan modification, 749 Athens Street, SF, CA 94112, 004 37815, 2
Peter Fairfield (and L. Sweet), Stop foreclosure auction (20130205) and fair deal loan modification, 831 Chenery Street, SF, CA 94131, 1100225238, 2
San Francisco’s Mayor and Board of Supervisors have unanimously requested a halt to foreclosures and related evictions, especially since San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s report showing that 84% of foreclosures have at least one legal violation and due to Wells’ $175 million settlement paid to resolve allegations of racial discrimination in providing mortgage loans in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point and other neighborhoods.
Wells Fargo’s “waterfall” model, along with similar policies from other lenders, ensures that the bank can squeeze the most money possible from homeowners struggling to make payments while finally discarding them like trash if the bank can’t make a profit on every single loan. Running a mortgage loan business means assuming risks, especially after receiving billions in bailout funds from the taxpayers, many of whom are Wells’ mortgage loan borrowers.
Stop contributing to the rash of deaths by foreclosure! Stop the single-minded greedy focus on profit! Stop ignoring the health and well-being of your customers and the communities where we live! Take whatever action is necessary to keep distressed families in their homes!
This is an URGENT request, so please respond right away.
Sincerely,
your name here
Reserve December 6 and December 18 on your calendar for Wells Fargo protests on behalf of the “Wells 29”. (Update: Those protests took place with great success!)
Wells Fargo plans to foreclose on or evict the “Wells 29” despite:
Merrie Jo and Edzel Musni and their family are residents of Glen Park. They have a loan with Bank of America.
Merrie Jo, a labor & delivery nurse whoās assisted in more than 5,000 deliveries, has had medical injuries and surgeries which have led to a decrease in income. The Musnis need a reasonable modification, and have complied with steps the bank has demanded, depleting their savings, all the while getting the run around from the bank for 4 years, each time talking with a different person and starting all over. Merrie Jo Musni says, āWhat we have paid in the trial period is impossible to continue and is basically a slower death.ā Meanwhile, BofA CEO Moynihan made $10,000,000 in 2010 alone.
Bank of America plans to auction off their home on July 24, 2012.
The banks are planning to auction off the homes or evict the following Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter families on the dates listed below. To help defend their homes, please show up at the Occupy the Auction action at 1:45pm on the date listed with a whistle (or other noisemaker) and earplugs. San Francisco Occupy the Auctions actions take place at 1:45pm every weekday (not holidays) on the sidewalk in front of City Hall at 400 Van Ness Ave., unless another time and location is specified or if there are no residential foreclosure auctions scheduled that day. San Francisco evictions usually take place on Wednesdays, starting as early as 6:00am.