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.
