Homeowners Signed Demand to Banks

Homeowners In Action, a local grassroots movement which was formed in response the public outcry against unfair foreclosures and loan modification practices, yesterday organized a town hall meeting at Martin Luther King Library in downtown San Jose. During the meeting attended by about 300 people, many frustrated homeowners who had applied for modification of their mortgages while facing the possibility of foreclosure described to an appalled audience the agony of going through an convoluted process without knowing whether or when they would lose their house.

Many of the people attended eagerly submitted their stories in writing and signed a document titled “Demand for Improvement in Loan Modification Process: Good Faith, Fairness, Transparency and Effectiveness”, available on the group’s website at http://tinyurl.com/ygwym5u. The group resolved upon a collective demand to various banks for an improvement of the loan modification process and for fair business conducts.

Six volunteer attorneys, either founders or supporters of the group, outlined the legal, moral and ethical points underlying the demand, discussed various aspects of the loan modification, foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings, and conducted a Q&A session, during which many irate homeowners recounted how they were unfairly treated by the banks. In amazingly similar stories, their lenders extended the “trial payment plans” way beyond the required three months period, requested every month submission of evidence of income, told them that the evidence provided wasn’t sufficient, refused to provide any confirmation in writing, denied loan modification applications with little or no explanation, rescheduled the trustee sale date without providing homeowners with any notice, and even offered loan modifications packages where the homeowners payment obligations actually increased, making it impossible for the homeowners to accept.

Attorney Jenny Do, co-founder and leader of Homeowners In Action, said after the meeting: “Some of the heartbreaking stories we heard today reinforce our conviction: banks are not applying fair business practices during the processing of loan modification applications. The similarity of the stories leads us to suspect that the way banks deal with these homeowners is in fact part of the banks’ policies.”

In the coming days, Homeowners In Action plans to collect more data from individual homeowners in order to prove that banks’ unfair practices are the direct result of bank policies. The group will also gather more signatures to the demand and organize follow-up meetings. After a careful examination of the individual homeowners’ situation and experience with the banks, the group will consolidate the signatures by lender and present the demand accordingly.

For a more complete description of the event, including pictures, please check Homeowners In Action website at www.HomeownersInAction.com. To contact the group, please email at info@HomeownersInAction.com or call at 408.455.0175.