BIG BANK BACKS DOWN--FOR NOW; HALTS FORECLOSURE ON CANCER PATIENT'S HOME AS CONGRESSMAN LEADS VIGIL

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Miriam Raftery
“I hope this will spread across America.” - Congressman Bob Filner at a pre-dawn rally, where he announced that Union Bank called off plans to have the Sheriff issue a foreclosure notice today to evict a woman and her child with cancer

“We can join together and fight these banks.” – Ray Lutz, 52nd Congressional district candidate
 

September 14, 2010 (Bonita) – “Thank you, thank you!” Luz Maria Villanueva’s voice was choked with emotion at a rally on her front lawn organized by Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego). Nearly 100 people turned out at 5:30 a.m. for a candlelight vigil to protest Union Bank’s announced plan to have the Sheriff’s department take Villanueva’s Bonita home. She has pleaded for a reprieve at least until her son, who is legally blind and has cancer, completes chemotherapy treatments.

“We’re going to stand together to change America,” said Rep. Filner. “We have a president who talked about hope. We have to give him strength. The banks have taken over both parties.” He called for changes in the law to protect those victimized by predatory lending practices.
 

The rally drew widespread media attention; at least three major TV stations as well as print and online media reporters were on hand to cover the event.

 

Filner was willing to risk arrest to halt the foreclosure.  The Congressman knows first-hand the effectiveness of civil disobedience to right a wrong; in the1960s he rode the Freedom Train to Mississippi, where he was arrested in a Civil Rights protest and jailed for several weeks after standing up for rights of African-Americans.

 

Although Villanueva attained a temporary stay when Union Bank called off the Sheriff  today, the order could be reissued, Filner warned those present. “We got them to back down, but we need you to be on call.”
 

The crowd responded by chanting, “Stop Union Bank! Stop taking our homes!”

 

Members of the public who want to be notified of upcoming "stop foreclosure" rallies may follow Rep. Filner's Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/CongBobFilner.
 

Ray Lutz, Democratic candidate in East County’s 52nd Congressional district, also stood with Filner and Villanueva at the rally. “I think this is going to be a big tidal wave of fighting back against banks,” Lutz told East County Magazine. “We’ve got to stop these foreclosures. If we stand together, we can get the government to help us, because they don’t have any spine unless we have a spine.”
 

Lutz said he wants to push the Obama administration to rewrite loans and reassess the value of homes, allowing homeowners to stay in their residences and pay what homes are actually worth. “We need recognition that the bubble burst a long time ago. This is the best way to put our economy back on a solid footing,” Lutz added.
 

Filner and Lutz have met with organizations working to stop evictions.
 

Evictions of people like Naa-Anoror Okai and James Tillory. “I have proof that my bank changed my income, my marital status, and my ethnicity,” said Okai, who came out to show solidarity with Villanueva. After a Housing Commission worker found that the bank had falsified Fannie Mae documents before initiating foreclosure proceedings, Okai filed a lawsuit and sought help from Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego).
 

But when the Congresswoman contacted the bank, Okai said, “They wouldn’t return her calls…Instead of working with me, they sold our loan to another lender.” Okai wants to save her home, but also hopes to see her bank prosecuted by the federal government for fraud.
 

Villanueva, who fell behind on payments due to divorce and her son’s medical bills, now waits and hopes that public pressure will persuade her bank to stop foreclosure proceedings and give her an opportunity to work out an arrangement to stay in her home and make payments. Today, she will take her son, who suffers from kidney disease as well as cancer, for a potentially life-saving infusion.
 

“We can’t give up,” the determined mother vowed.
 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments

Luz Maria Villanueva

Dear Luz: I do hope you were able to save your home; but above all, my heart goes to your son who has been having more than his share of insurmountable health problems. A child should not have to go through these unfathomable issues so young. Never lose hope because without hope, the burdens become unbearable. Coming from someone who has experienced cancer, the agonizing chemotherapy, and it's aftermaths, I do understand.

Evictions of people like

Evictions of people like Naa-Anoror Okai and James Tillory. “I have proof that my bank changed my income, my marital status, and my ethnicity,” said Okai, who came out to show solidarity with Villanueva. After a Housing Commission worker found that the bank had falsified Fannie Mae documents before initiating foreclosure proceedings, Okai filed a lawsuit and sought help from Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego).

But when the Congresswoman contacted the bank, Okai said, “They wouldn’t return her calls…Instead of working with me, they sold our loan to another lender.” Okai wants to save her home, but also hopes to see her bank prosecuted by the federal government for fraud.

Hey, "throw the bums out"

Liar loans?

I remember when the banks started pushing those loans, the ones that they then bundled into flaky derivatives.

I was unemployed, homeless, and staying with friends.

Suddenly it seemed like the entire universe started pressuring me to buy a house.

Me! Somebody who couldn't even scrape together first, last, and deposit to rent an apartment!

Not to worry, said the banks, the mortgage companies, the city, social service agencies, friends, relatives, and the media--you don't have to make a down payment, all your closing costs will be covered for you, and all you'll have to do is make low monthly payments, lower than rent would be.

If I'd still had kids at home, no less a sick kid, I'm sure I'd have succumbed.

But I had enough common sense to realize that a person who can't afford an apartment, can't afford a house, and that any unforeseen expenses, such as emergency repairs to that house, could cause me to miss a payment and lose it.

But I'm sure that many others did succumb. That sort of temptation should be criminal. Particularly the program where the city, if I recall correctly, offered $5,000 in taxpayer money to help low income people buy houses.

The banks and mortgage companies got that $5,000 and the suckers who fell for the scam are most likely homeless again. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Yes, the victims may be partially at fault, but they weren't running the mortgage con game and those who were are more at fault. We don't arrest people for being taken in by a confidence game, we arrest the con men running the game.

And you know what people told me when I presented my realistic objections to buying a house? They said that I shouldn't be so negative and cynical, that I should take a positive attitude and seize the opportunity to have a share in the American dream. Were you one of them? Because if you were, I think that you should be in jail along with the crooked banksters. For shame!

Demonstration was organized Monday or before

A slight correction to "This is the Truth"

I was informed of plans to help protect a family from a bank-ordered eviction weeks ago. Regarding this specific event, I saw a notice early Monday morning, which I distributed to about 700 people telling them to show up 5:30am on Tuesday. It is becoming apparent that at some point the bank changed its mind, due apparently to the growing response of the public and widespread plans to show up even it the pre-dawn darkness.

Mr Filner and everyone else who was committed to coming to Luz Maria's house at 5AM that morning made an obligation, and they fulfilled the obligations they had made -- meeting Luz Maria, her son, her family, and many neighbors. It would have been rather difficult, nigh impossible, attempt to cancel the planned show of support, simply because the bank lost its nerve.

Funny that the San Diego County Sheriff should made to follow orders from ba Japanese Bank (TokyoBank Mitsubishi UFJ is the owner of UnionBanCal Holding Corp) -- but I am sure that the foreign banks appreciate your support.

What a Crock!

So let me understand this. Someone goes out and gets a Liar Loan for over $530,000.00 on an inflated property, now she can't pay her loan, and now it's my problem as a tax payer? And everyone wonders why our country is flushing down the outfall pipe?

Fight Foreclosure: Make ‘Em Produce The Note!

http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2008/06/19/produce-the-note-how-to/

People facing foreclosure in many states have used the strategy of forcing the bank to "produce the note" -- meaning the entity attempting to foreclose has to establish that they have the legal right to do so.

WHO OWNS THE NOTE?

"Your goal is to make certain the institution suing you is, in fact, the owner of the note (see steps to follow below). There is only one original note for your mortgage that has your signature on it. This is the document that proves you owe the debt."

The massive securitization of mortgages by Wall Street appears to have led to an uncertain situation where the banks essentially try to bluff the homeowner.

San Jose CA judge upholds strategy...
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=6839404

Is your mortgage one of 62 million held by MERS? Mortgage Electronic Registration System was created by the industry to simplify the securitization of loans. But "hoist on its own Petard" -- the bank cannot foreclose if the note is held by MERS.
http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/2010/08/mers-is-you...

Moral of the Story:
FACING A BAD MORTGAGE SITUATION? Get the facts. Know your options. Stand up to the bullies. Know that the bullies are cowards at heart.

"When I need something done, I call Bob"

Con't

Bob Filner was one of MANY participants today on Butternut Hollow Drive who risked jail to help keep a family in their home this morning. This is the same Bob Filner who at age 17 rode a bus from Pittsburgh to the Deep South to stand up for civil rights in 1961 -- and spent two months imprisoned in a Mississippi jail after standing up for "Liberty and Justice for All."

Conservatives in and out of the South Bay acknowledge that "When I need something done, I call Bob", which may give you insight into Mr Filner's re-election popularity in Imperial Valley and the South Bay and support from people from all walks of life and political stripes.

Get 'em Bob!

My experience with Bob Filner is that he really does stand up for his constituents. His office is easy to reach and he is their to help...even in a non-election year.

Perhaps the right-wingers would like a law that says you can't get a home loan if anyone in your family might get cancer before the loan is paid off. These are the same people that don't want health care for anyone who does not have enough money left over after paying the mortgage to pay the ever rising insurance premiums.

Fony Filner

Bob Filner got what he wanted: great headlines in a tight election season. How long until the bank comes back, a day, a week. Is Filner going to be there after his re-election??? Will he be there to stop the bad sheriff from taking my home too??? Try doing something hard Bob, make it law that only people who can afford their homes can buy them. I'm sorry, but I know bob and his intentions better than most. The Real Bob Filner can be found at www.VoteTheBumOut.com

Neighbors Stop an Eviction - Main Street 1, Wall Street 0

When I heard that the bank planned to send a county Sheriff to Luz Maria's home to serve an eviction notice, I was appalled.

LuzMaria's son is going through chemotherapy treatments. The family had worked to arrange an equitable compromise with the bank. The bank refused.

How does foreclosure and eviction help the Villanueva family to pay the mortgage?

How does eviction help the Bonita neighborhood where the Villaneuva family lives, shops, goes to school?

As a nation, we decided to back-stop billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and foreign bank holding companies in 2008 and 2009. What is their thanks? Jacked up credit card rates, ATM fees, overdraft fees, and foreclosures.
We were idiots to put Wall Street first, if this is how they pay us back.Time to focus on Main Street -- or Butternut Hollow Drive - as it were.

Mike Copass