The Occupy Wells Fargo Vigil to Stop Evictions on March 26, 2013, was again a smashing success! (well, we didn’t actually smash anything) 😉 Two of us gathered to demand that Wells Fargo stop foreclosing on and evicting our neighbors with their illegal, predatory, or discriminatory loans. They still had covered up the Wells Fargo “family jewels” — the Wells Fargo stagecoach.
As students from a local school headed into the Wells Fargo History Museum, we asked them to ask why Wells Fargo is throwing children and disabled seniors out of their homes.
We look forward to continuing the vigils this week and ongoing until Wells Fargo stops their illegal, predatory, or discriminatory foreclosures and evictions of folks like our neighbor Bernetta Adolph, a disabled senior retired Muni employee.
The first day of the Occupy Wells Fargo Vigil to Stop Evictions on March 25, 2013, was a smashing success! Five of us gathered to demand that Wells Fargo stop foreclosing on and evicting our neighbors with their illegal, predatory, or discriminatory loans. Before we even arrived, they had covered up the Wells Fargo stagecoach — the Wells Fargo “family jewels” as it were — so that we couldn’t have nice photo ops of protestors and the stagecoach. Personally, I like the photo op of them being silly enough to cover up the stagecoach for five protestors much better! (see photo on the right and videos below)
We look forward to continuing the vigils this week and ongoing until Wells Fargo stops their illegal, predatory, or discriminatory foreclosures and evictions of folks like our neighbor Bernetta Adolph, a disabled senior retired Muni employee.
On March 15, 2013, few dozen protestors from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Occupy Bernal, Occupy Noe and other organizations protested PNC Bank’s seventh attempt to evict disabled senior Yin Wong from her San Francisco Bayview home even though she made all her payments on time. The Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and their supporters shut down the entrances to the PNC Bank branch on the 28th floor of 575 Market Street, as well as access to the rest of the building except through a loading dock on the rear side of the building. The group demanded that PNC Bank cancel the eviction and sell Yin Wong her home.
PNC Bank plans to evict Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Yin Wong and her family from their home in Bayview. We have to stop them!
Please take action with these steps to save their home:
NOTE: PNC Bank has been blacklisting email addresses, so if you can send your email from another email address please do so.
1) Call and email these PNC staff with the message below:
PNC CEO James E. Rohr right now at 412-762-2294 (may transfer to Executive Complaint Office voicemail) or 412-963-6133 (home)
PNC Bank President William Demchak at 917-348-1173 (cell)
PNC Senior Vice President Thomas Hyland at 212-527-3938
PNC Bank Vice President of Corporate Communications Fred Solomon at 412-762-7544
To: james.e.rohr@pnc.com, james.rohr@pnc.com, bill.demchak@pnc.com, thomas.hyland@pnc.com, frederick.solomon@pnc.com Cc: alisa.winslow@pnc.com, alok.satyawadi@pnc.com, andrew.siwulec@pnc.com, angela.gammage@pnc.com, barbara.martocci@pnc.com, barbara.stuck@pnc.com, catherine.bernard@pnc.com, dale.klose@pnc.com, daniel.potter@pnc.com, david.aloise@pnc.com, deborah.vanvalkenburgh@pnc.com, ginger.siegel@pnc.com, jerry.furby@pnc.com, joel.roediger@pnc.com, john.robinson@pnc.com, john.turner@pnc.com, joseph.chasteen@pnc.com, karen.larrimer@pnc.com, kevin.scheffler@pnc.com, kim.mcneil@pnc.com, laura.watson@pnc.com, liz.kuonen@pnc.com, lou.stempkowski@pnc.com, michael.delgado@pnc.com, michael.golden@pnc.com, michael.ley@pnc.com, robert.andres@pnc.com, sam.colton@pnc.com, sean.costello@pnc.com, susan.campbell@pnc.com, william.lashbrook@pnc.com, action@occupytheauctions.org Subject: Stop Eviction and Sell Yin Wong (#0002043106) Her Family Home
Dear PNC,
Please postpone the seventh eviction attempt you’ve scheduled for March 6, and sell San Francisco resident Yin Wong and her daughter Wai Cheung (PNC mortgage customer loan #0002043106) their family home in Bayview. After PNC purchased their mortgage loan from National City Mortgage, they received no notification of the purchase so their EFT payment didn’t make it to PNC, which rapidly foreclosed on their home and has tried six times to evict them. They have always paid and been prepared to pay their mortgage, so please negotiate with them and settle this matter fairly.
3) Stay tuned for 6:00am Wednesday home eviction defense at Yin Wong’s home, which may last all day. Those who wish to commit civil disobedience (i.e. take an arrest) may have the opportunity to do so, although anyone who doesn’t want to risk arrest may of course also participate.
Background
PNC Bank is stealing the home of Yin Wong, disabled senior by ILLEGALLY foreclosing on her and her family after National City Mortgage sold the loan on her home to PNC Bank. The first she heard of PNC’s purchase of the loan was a foreclosure notice in the mail. Even though Yin Wong has the money to pay the loan and has tried to get PNC Bank to accept it, PNC has refused and has pushed eviction proceedings forward even after four prior court appearances during which the Superior Court judge urged PNC to correct the problem. Yin Wong has tried over and over to work with PNC, but PNC has refused to work with her.
PNC Bank did the exact same thing with the Cruz family in Minneapolis… thousands of people have protested their eviction, organizing to re-occupy their home with dozens of arrests.
Let’s stand together to fight back and let banks know that we won’t let them foreclosure on families illegally.
JOIN US AND DEMAND PNC WORK WITH YIN TO KEEP HER HOME!!!
To get involved or for more information, call Grace at ACCE at +1-415-377-6872 or email gmartinez@calorganize.org
ACCE, SEIU, Occupy Bernal, and Occupy Noe Foreclosure and Eviction Fighters and supporters again provided important testimony about the illegal, predatory, and discriminatory practices of banks like Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America at the meeting of the San Francisco Employee Retirement System Retirement Board on March 13, 2013, just as previously on January 9, 2013 and on February 13, 2013.
The group again asked the Retirement Board to investigate the illegal, predatory, and discriminatory practices of the banks, to request that the banks stop these practices, to sponsor shareholder resolutions if they don’t stop, and to divest from the banks’ stocks if the shareholder resolutions do not succeed. Some of the Commissioners responded favorably to the public comment testimony.
Grace Martinez of ACCE provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Gladys Dewitt provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
SFERS Retirement Board President Wendy Paskin-Jordan, a former Wells Fargo employee, responds to public testimony.
San Francisco Muni employee and Local 200 former President Alice Fialkin provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Ian Haddow provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Former San Francisco city employee Susan McDonough provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Larry Faulks, evicted from his home by Wells Fargo, provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter and Teamster Ricardo Rodriguez provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Harry Baker, Retirement Security Chair for SEIU Local 1021, which is the largest union representing SFERS members, provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Foreclosure and Eviction Fighter Jackie Wright provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
Grace Martinez of ACCE provides testimony to SFERS Retirement Board.
SFERS Retirement Board staff and commissioners discuss whether they can calendar consideration of a resolution on foreclosures and related evictions at the next SFERS meeting in April 2013.
SFERS Retirement Board staff and commissioners continue discussing whether they can calendar consideration of a resolution on foreclosures and related evictions at the next SFERS meeting in April 2013.
The rest of the discussion was not captured on video.
#1 in SF Foreclosures and Related Evictions: Racist and Predatory
Who: (Retired and Current) City Employees, especially those facing foreclosure/eviction and supporters What: Public Comment at San Francisco Employees Retirement System (SFERS) Retirement Board Meeting (2 minute limit) When: 2:00pm, Wednesday, March 13 Where: 30 Van Ness Avenue, 3rd floor (near Market Street)
We are asking SFERS to do the following:
Investigate investments in Wells Fargo, which is #1 in foreclosures and related evictions in San Francisco and elsewhere, as well as other lenders foreclosing on and evicting San Francisco homeowners..
Prepare and submit a Wells Fargo shareholder resolution to stop predatory and/or racist foreclosures and related evictions for consideration at the next annual Wells Fargo shareholder meeting (probably in April 2013).
If Wells Fargo doesn’t adopt the shareholder resolution at its next shareholder meeting and take immediate steps to implement policies and practices in line with the resolution, then divest from any investment in Wells Fargo within three months after that shareholder meeting.
We are asking San Francisco Mayor Lee to do the following:
Appoint only qualified candidates to the SFERS Retirement Board who are not executives or employees at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, or Bank of America (the top three in predatory foreclosures and related evictions in San Francisco).
Issue a statement in support of divestment from Wells Fargo of all San Francisco City and County funds, including employee retirement and disability funds.
Background:
The San Francisco Employee Retirement Systems (SFERS) handles investments for pension funds for current and retired San Francisco city employees. SFERS has policies that include “Social Investment Procedures” adopted at the SFERS Retirement Board meeting of September 27, 1988, which requires the SFERS Retirement Board when making investments in stocks, mutual funds, and so on, to consider:
“Community Relations: the relationship of the corporation to the communities in which it operates shall be maintained as a good corporate citizen through observing proper environmental standards, supporting the local economic, social and cultural climate, conducting acquisitions and reorganizations to minimize adverse effects and not discriminate in making loans or writing insurance.” (emphasis added by Occupy the Auctions)
Wells Fargo is #1 in San Francisco foreclosures. 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 with the United States Department of Justice paid in response to 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.
“On the morning of Dec. 19, 2012, in a Torrance courtroom, Larry Delassus’ heart stopped as he watched his attorney argue his negligence and discrimination case against banking behemoth Wells Fargo.
“His death came more than two years after Wells Fargo mistakenly mixed up his Hermosa Beach address with that of a neighbor in the same condo complex. The bank’s typo led Wells Fargo to demand that Delassus pay $13,361.90 — two years of late property taxes the bank said it had paid on his behalf in order to keep his Wells Fargo mortgage afloat.”
Update: JP Morgan Chase has postponed the foreclosure auction of the Baful home until March 1, 2013. Please continue the calls and emails to request cancellation of the auction and a fair deal loan modification so the Baful family can remain in their home.
JP Morgan Chase is planning to sell Romeo Baful’s home at a foreclosure auction on January 28, 2012.
Please take action to help Romeo, as well as his mother and his daughter:
Call and email Chase with the following message:
Jamie Dimon, CEO, +1 212-270-1111
Peter Barker, California Chair, +1 888-342-6441
Sample email:
To: Jamie.Dimon@chase.com, executive.office@chase.com, peter.barker@chase.com Cc: action@occupytheauctions.org Subject: Stop Auction of Baful Home (Loan #1835186059)
Please postpone the foreclosure auction of Romeo Baful’s home at 1352 Quesada Avenue in San Francisco (loan #1835186059) and offer him a fair deal loan modification. Romeo has lived for more than 20 years in the home he shares with his 82-year-old mother and 7-year-old daughter. A single father, he works part-time as a home care provider after getting laid off from his job due to budget cuts two years ago. In July, Chase approved a trial modification but, after several months payments, denied a permanent loan modification and set a date of January 28 to sell of the Baful home at a foreclosure auction.
Sincerely,
your name
9:00am on Monday, January 28, come protest at a Chase bank branch, Mission Street at 21st Street, San Francisco (please bring signs, banners, and whistles)
1:45pm on Monday, January 28, come protest at the foreclosure auction at City Hall, 400 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco (auction may start promptly at 2pm, please bring signs, banners, and whistles).
Update: Wells Fargo has postponed the auction of the Reed’s home until February 26, 2013, but let’s keep the calls and emails coming to let them know that postponing isn’t enough: the Reed family needs a fair deal loan modification to remain in their home.
Please call/email Wells Fargo to stop the foreclosure auction of the home of Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed and his family on January 24, 2013:
Brenda Wright, SVP of Community Relations, +1 415-623-7738
Alfredo Pedroza, Director CA Gov’t Relations, +1 415-396-0829
Ruben Pulido, Comm. Staff, +1 415-852-1279
John Stumpf, CEO, +1 866-878-5865
Sample message:
To: brenda.wright@wellsfargo.com, alfredo.pedroza@wellsfargo.com, ruben.pulido@wellsfargo.com, john.g.stumpf@wellsfargo.com Cc: action@occupytheauctions.org Subject: Stop Foreclosure of Reed Family & “Wells 29”
Dear Wells Fargo staff,
Please take IMMEDIATE action to stop Wells Fargo’s January 24 foreclosure auction of 85-year-old disabled Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed and family at 2 Warren Drive in San Francisco. Please offer the family a fair deal loan modification to remain in their home and meet the demands listed for each of the 29 families who Wells Fargo has put at risk (see list sent by ACCE and Occupy Bernal).
Update: Dozens of protestors mixed with revelers attending the Martin Luther King Jr Day at the Museum of the African Diaspora today asking Wells Fargo to stop the foreclosure auction of 90-year-old Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed and his family, as well as the 28 other families of the “Wells 29”. Please feel free to use the following photos and videos (hi-res available by clicking on the photos).
Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Reed
Thanks to Larry Faulks for the last picture of the dream he told the chalk artist at MOAD.
What: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service March & Call Rally When: 11:30 a.m. January 21, 2013 Where: Museum of African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. (@Third St.), San Francisco, 94105
STOP WELLS FARGO FORECLOSURES
ACCE / OCCUPY BERNAL / OCCUPY NOE ACTION
“No Home For You!”
Wells Fargo Bank Shoots Down Tuskegee Airman
What Would Martin Do? Help Save Homes From Foreclosure!
Wells Fargo Bank settled with US Department of Justice on predatory and discriminatory loan practices for $175 million (including Bayview Branch).
Tell Wells Fargo to Stop Foreclosures & Evictions Now
Tell Wells Fargo to provide fair deal loan modifications Now
Tell Wells to Stop Throwing Pennies at The Arts To Look Good While Robbing Millions of Homes
Honor Dr. King! Call Wells Fargo Out Now- Tell Them to Save Tuskegee Airman Ben Reed’s Home & Other Homes! +1 415-623-7738 Brenda Wright, SVP Wells Fargo/MoAD Board, and +1 866-878-5865 John Stumpf, CEO
“Our needs are identical with labor’s needs: Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community.”
Freddie Mac plans to evict Sally Scott and her family from their St. Louis home at 8:00am this Thursday, January 17.
After their staff refused a loan modification approved by a HUD-certified counselor, Freddie Mac auctioned back to themselves the home of 65-year-old Sally Scott and her family in west St. Louis, Missouri. Her 84-year-old husband Bob is a WWII and Korean War veteran who was disabled by a stroke five years ago. Sally, her disabled husband Bob, and her 26-year-old mentally handicapped “special child” Susie live in a constant state of fear, not knowing when the county sheriff will show up to evict them and throw all their belongings out onto the sidewalk.
They originally obtained their loan from Southwest Bank, then it was transferred twice over the last 11 years, ending up serviced by Select Portfolio Servicing and owned by Freddie Mac.
Please take action to help keep the Scott family in their home–
1) Call and email Freddie Mac staff with the following message:
* Donald H. Layton, CEO, at +1 703-903-2000 (say “Donald Layton” to transfer call)
* Brad German, Public Relations, at +1 703-903-2437
* Patti Boerger, Media Relations, at +1 703-903-2445
* Chad Wandler, Media Relations, +1 703-903-2446 or +1 571-236-2533 (cell)
* Aaron Elking, Attorney at Martin, Leigh, Laws, & Fritzlen, in Kansas City, +1 314-862-5200 or +1 636-534-7600
To: Donald_Layton@freddiemac.com, Brad_German@freddiemac.com, Patricia_Boerger@freddiemac.com, Chad_Wandler@FreddieMac.com, ame@mllfpc.com
Cc: action@occupytheauctions.org
Subject: Postpone Eviction of Scott Family in St. Louis (SPS Loan #0009962887)
Please immediately postpone the imminent eviction of the Scott family at 115 Ladue Pines Drive in Creve Coeur, St. Louis County, to give them time to negotiate a fair deal loan with Select Portfolio Servicing (SPS) and Freddie Mac. The family includes an elderly couple, one of whom is a disabled veteran of two wars, and a mentally handicapped daughter. They have more than $4,000 in monthly regular and disability income. Their loan number with SPS is 0009962887.
2) Call the St. Louis County Sheriff with the following message:
* Jim Buckles, St. Louis County Sheriff, at +1 314-615-4724
Please postpone the eviction of the Scott family at 115 Ladue Pines Drive in Creve Coeur, St. Louis County, to give them more time to negotiate a fair deal loan with Select Portfolio Servicing and Freddie Mac. The family includes an elderly couple, one of whom is a disabled veteran of two wars, and a mentally handicapped daughter.
3) Please sign a petition, already signed by more than 900 people, on behalf of the Scott family and veterans raised more than $10,000 to assist the family.
4) If you live in St. Louis and can provide local support for the Scott family, please contact us at action@occupytheauctions.org … find out about and help make plans for an eviction witness or eviction defense action this Thursday.
Thanks for supporting a good Missouri neighbor!
Web address for this alert and updates: http://occupytheauctions.org/wordpress/?p=7894
The Occupy Wells Fargo Vigil to Stop Evictions on March 26, 2013, was again a smashing success! (well, we didn’t actually smash anything) 😉 Two of us gathered to demand that Wells Fargo stop foreclosing on and evicting our neighbors with their illegal, predatory, or discriminatory loans. They still had covered up the Wells Fargo “family jewels” — the Wells Fargo stagecoach.
