Teach Banks to Share and Move Your Money

First appeared in Contra Costa Times

Dozens of moms, dads and their kids protested the nation's biggest banks Friday with a stroller march that called on bank customers to switch to credit unions.

About 60 parents and their young children took part in Friday's "Teach Banks to Share" demonstration, which was organized by a group called the Colorful Mamas of the 99 Percent.

The stroller-pushing parents marched through downtown Oakland in support of the national "Move Your Money" campaign, which is urging customers of big banks to close their accounts and join credit unions by Saturday, which is being dubbed "Bank Transfer Day."

The campaign has gained momentum with the expansion of the Occupy Wall Street protests nationwide.

The protesters beat drums and chanted "Time out! You better share!" as they marched to a Wells Fargo branch. The group rallied outside while two mothers went inside and closed their accounts.

"We believe that the money needs to go from the 1 percent to all of us to pay for schools, health care, putting food on the table and our kids' future," protester Mimi Ho, carrying her baby, told the crowd after closing her Wells Fargo account.

The protesters said big banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. don't pay enough taxes or contribute enough to their communities, despite having received tens of billions of dollars in federal bailout funds and posting multibillion-dollar profits.

"We want reinvestment in our communities. We want corporations and large banks to pay their fair share of taxes," said Prishni Murillo, 33, an Oakland mother of two.

Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido said the San Francisco-based bank been an industry leader in charitable giving, modifying mortgages and lending money to small businesses.

"We're doing a lot to strengthen communities in the Bay Area and around the country," Pulido said.

End of Line for Two Homeowners

First appeared in Contra Costa Times

Business at two Antioch banks was disrupted Friday by protesters demanding help for two homeowners who haven't been able to pay their mortgage.

About three dozen members and supporters of a grass roots social justice organization went to the Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank branches on Somersville Road asking officials there to intervene on behalf of an elderly Antioch woman who lost her home just days ago as well as a Concord couple that received an eviction notice last month.

Holding signs and chanting, they asked employees to fax a letter to the banks' chief executive officers insisting that the companies work with these people they had victimized with their "predatory lending practices."

Bank of America refused and called the police, who dispersed the crowd by warning that they would be arrested if they didn't leave, said John Adams, local director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.

The crowd then walked to Wells Fargo, where the branch manager agreed to fax the plea to rescind its foreclosure on Eva Cader, a 78-year-old Antioch woman who was evicted Jan. 3 while trying to obtain a loan modification, Adams said.

Although the Bank of America branch didn't comply with the group's request, its manager discovered she knew Jessi Koritz, a small-business owner who frequents the Concord branch where she used to work.

The woman promised she would bring his case to the attention of those who mightbe able to forestall his eviction and modify the terms of his loan.

Grappling with financial setbacks from a job loss and workplace injuries, Koritz and his wife, Pamela, have been struggling to keep the first home they have owned for most of the 5½ years they have been in it.

"We're just trying to live the American dream," said Koritz, who hasn't made a mortgage payment since July 2008.

He initially had tried to renegotiate the loan but says the bank told him it couldn't do anything unless he was delinquent.

Although Koritz is reluctant to pin his hopes on Bank of America having a change of heart, Adams says he's optimistic because of what the groundswell of opposition to lending practices already has accomplished.

"We're acting on the knowledge that this is happening across the country," he said. "People are shining a light on their case and -- lo and behold -- the bank will take a look and end up working something out."

That's exactly what Bank of America has been doing, said media relations director Britney Sheehan, noting that the company has made more Home Affordable Modification Program loans than any other lender.

The bank has processed about 200,000 of those loans in California alone since the housing crisis began in 2008, she said.

Moreover, Bank of America works with nonprofits like the housing counseling agency NACA to prevent foreclosures and has opened dozens of customer assistance centers in the hardest hit housing markets around the country -- it's opening one in San Mateo in the next few weeks -- where homeowners can talk to mortgage specialists about their loan, Sheehan said.

It's not in the bank's interest for customers to lose their homes, she said.

"While some would have the public believe that banks make a profit on foreclosures and evictions, the truth is that the process is tremendously costly for all parties," she said.