Standing up to banks

I had told my friend and debate partner I might go to a movie this afternoon. Didn't make it. Instead, I followed suggestions in the Moratorium Now email I had gotten. They held a protest at the Federal Building in Detroit this afternoon at 3:00, followed by one at the City-County Building at 4:00. Busy people.

We held a protest at the Federal Building because Senator Carl Levin has an office inside. He could help with specific cases of mortgage foreclosure, but doesn't appear to have done much. There were a lot of police watching our protest and, at their insistence, we were at the street corner rather than in front of the building entrance. I (and others) think they were city police (and affected by budget cuts) even though there was a line of Homeland Security SUVs parked along the street.

When the group began to head to the other site, I went back to my car to feed more quarters into the meter. At our demonstration site one guy was loading his car with many of the signs and flyers. A policeman came up to him and said that if he didn't take everything -- whether or not he brought it -- he would be given a ticket. So I helped him gather up flyers.

Another protester had ducked into a local business to charge his phone (which I thought took hours) and missed seeing the protesters head to the other site. I assured him they were gone. That gave me someone to talk to on the walk.

We were at the City-County Building to protest Detroit's Financial Consent Decree. The terms of that decree state that the city pays banks first for loans and bonds. That doesn't leave enough for essential city services and schools. One man explained it this way: The big banks (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.) came into Detroit with their subprime loans that blew up. So the banks began evicting people. That destroyed Detroit's already weak tax base and those same banks now are squeezing the city government. The banks stole money from city residents. Why should the city give them even more money? The banks should compensate the city for the theft. Detroit pays the banks over $600 million a year. That could fund all the city services Detroit needs.

I passed the Federal Building on my way to my car. Hmm. No police standing around.

There was a break in the schedule. I used it to go to Fairlane Mall in Dearborn (the closest one) for a bathroom break and a chance to sit somewhere cool for an hour. The temperature in Detroit topped 80 degrees, but since we were chased from the entrance of our targeted building we could do our protesting in the shade. It was actually rather pleasant.

In the evening I attended part of the program at the Occupy Detroit headquarters on Michigan Ave. (which is why Dearborn was close). They served a vegetarian supper (one bowl was marked "sweet potato and ginger stuff") then held a panel on foreclosure. This was part of the Occupy Midwest meeting, though I didn't stay for reports from around the region.

The first speaker at the panel was a foreclosure prevention lawyer. She said that even with all the paperwork in hand and even with the bank clearly in the wrong, nine times out of ten the judge is going to side with the bank. She told the story of a bank foreclosing on behalf of a trust. After some research she discovered the trust didn't exist. The bank admitted as much. The judge still sided with the bank.

There needs to be street action in addition to the legal action. In just Detroit ten thousand people have lost their homes to foreclosure. Why aren't these people out in the street protesting? Ten thousand people on the street and this mess would be over. One reason is a failure to pay a mortgage is seen as a private disgrace, not something shared with neighbors.

The second speaker was Jennifer Britt. The team has been doing amazing work to keep Jennifer in her home, including vigils to keep the dumpster from parking in front of her house (it hasn't actually showed up). I had considered taking part in this effort, but much of it happened when I was on vacation.

Jennifer's problems started back in 2006 when her husband died. The bank did not properly record the death and transfer the mortgage to her. And since her name wasn't on the mortgage they refused to discuss it with her or her lawyers. The situation went south from there. There is still $124K owed on the mortgage. The house is now worth $20K. Part of the reason why the vigil has worked so well is Jennifer's steely determination that the house is hers and she is going to stay in it.

During the last few months the foreclosure prevention team has canvassed Jennifer's neighborhood and found a few more who are facing foreclosure or eviction. With knowledge they aren't alone the neighborhood is functioning as a community.

Then Jerome Jackson spoke. My friend and debate partner has met him. Jerome is disabled and got a house through a government agency agreeing to pay part of the mortgage. But the agency stopped paying. Again, it is the case that Jerome could manage payments related to what the house is now worth, but can't pay the original mortgage. Through it all Jerome has shown the same steely determination to stay put.

Various others spoke, most allied in some way with Moratorium Now, an agency demanding at least a moratorium on foreclosures. Their second demand is to readjust all mortgages to the current value of the home. I think it was the head of the group that talked about the state of the mortgage business.

Most banks or mortgage companies, when they give out a mortgage, turn around and sell it to someone else. That means the bank may give a mortgage to someone who can't pay it off (what the whole subprime mess was all about) yet carries none of the risk if the mortgage goes bad. It is this other company, the underwriter, that takes the risk. Due to the subprime mess it sounds like all financial institutions have gotten out of the underwriting business -- except for the semi-government institutions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (one of the flyers in front of me has a logo for "Frauddie Mac. We make stealing homes possible."). That means every house with a mortgage is public housing, backed by our tax dollars (I'm not sure if this is every mortgage or every mortgage written after a particular date, one of the flyers says the gov't controls 75% of all mortgages -- then again, my credit union does mortgages and I don't think they use an underwriter). And that means the gov't, if it had a backbone, could do something about it. The speaker said Obama could act by declaring a moratorium without having to get the consent of Congress. (Which makes me think that if Obama did he would easily win in November, in spite of the GOP crying foul. But is Obama too beholden to the banks?)

I may not be able to get to Occupy Detroit weekly meetings. I did give out my email address, so I should find out about action events in a timely manner.