Homeowners to Banks: We Want To Be Home for the Holidays Too
Investment Banks Challenged to Donate Their Holiday Bonuses to Prevent Foreclosures Across America
On Wednesday November 28th 2007, the National Training and Information Center, NAACP and homeowners and community groups from around the country, will ask the biggest U.S. investment banks to take part in the effort to prevent a catastrophic wave of foreclosures across America by donating their holiday bonuses to a foreclosure prevention fund.
A report released today by the National Training and Information Center, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and People United for Sustainable Housing- Buffalo reveals how the top U.S. investment banks wielded extraordinary power in the subprime mortgage market, pushed it to unsustainable levels and reaped tremendous revenues and bonuses as a result. While cities around the country are experiencing record-high foreclosure rates, investment banks are looking to reap another round of huge bonuses this year. In 2006, the top five investment banks in the U.S. gave out a record 36 billion dollars in holiday bonuses.
“The trail of money and greed leads straight to Wall Street. The big investment firms plan to cash in on big holiday bonuses while our neighborhoods are destroyed by foreclosures. Wall Street must do the right thing and forego their lavish bonuses to help families stay in their homes. It’s time they clean up their mess.” states Inez Killingsworth, NTIC board member and Cleveland resident.
As part of the Save the American Dream campaign, groups from around the country are demanding that the major investment banks pledge this year’s bonuses to a national foreclosure prevention fund that will provide immediate relief to homeowners in danger of foreclosure. Details of the foreclosure prevention fund will be finalized by homeowners, grassroots community groups, national community advocates, and participating investment banks at a stakeholder summit convened by the National Training and Information Center.
“A little money can mean the difference in preventing a foreclosure. In addition to this fund helping families stay in their homes, preventing foreclosures will ultimately help the bottom line of these investment banks by continuing the cash flow to their investors” states Ms. Killingsworth. An example of such a rescue fund can be found in Cuyahoga County where as little as $2500 can assist a family in restructuring their loan to meet long term affordability.
Michelle Haygood, a homeowner in Cuyahoga County working with an affiliate of NTIC, was facing foreclosure and in reaching out to her lender was offered a loan modification that required a $2500 down payment. These down payments are usually required by servicers and investors in an effort to show a financial commitment to the proposed workout. Due to her hardship, Ms. Haygood did not have the lump sum of $2500, but she could sustain the new mortgage payments. Cuyahoga County’s rescue funds were able to assist Ms. Haygood by providing her with the $2500 required by her servicer and she now has a fixed rate loan that she can afford.
The Save the American Dream campaign is sending letters this week to the top five U.S. investment banks: Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. The Coalition is offering the giant investment banks the opportunity to make a real difference this holiday season by using their bonuses to help keep families in their homes.
The Save the American Dream campaign (www.savetheamericandream.org) is an aggressive foreclosure prevention campaign of the National Training and Information Center to curb the wide-spread effects of foreclosure on individuals, neighborhoods and the economy. NTIC is a 35 year-old network of community organizations that is dedicated to community organizing as a means of creating a more just and equitable society. NTIC is made up of 22 affiliate organizations in 10 states and works with 50 additional allied organizations from across the country. -
The report “Wall Street and the Making of the Subprime Disaster” was made possible by the generous support of the North Star Fund.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: foreclosures, Goldman Sachs, Home for the Holidays, investment banks, save the american dream, subprime lending, Wall Street, Wall Street bonuses
I’m writing because I’m so SICK of all these people that are looking for handouts its really PATHETIC!First off my husband and I purchased our first home at the ages of 22 and 20,we had two kids age 4 and 2,and 2 dogs.My husband was the only one working I had a part time job to be able to raise my kids,we had about 550.00 coming in on a weekly basis we lived check to check.Well guess what our first home turned out to be the BIGGEST LEMON EVER! We had termite damage so bad that terminex wanted to come and actually teach class here,well they ended up taping the whole house to be able to show to students,it was so bad that our contractor wouldnt even get a permit because he thought they would condem our house,needless to say we couldnt live here we had to move into a 10/10 size room with a crib a toddler bed a futon because we couldnt fit our bed in the room one dresser and 1 closet between four people our dogs couldnt move in because they were not aloud we lived 20 miles away so that meant we had to drive to the house 3 times a day to feed and tend to our poor dogs atleast they had eachother but they wanted to be with us,.for a whole year. because we couldnt afford to pay for a 1300.00 a month mortgage and have to put out over 80,000.00 dollars worth of damageback together.so we sacrificed allot of everything we did not get any ANY HANDOUTS FROM NO ONE .we suffered sure but this is what we got ourselves into we had to fix it we knew a mortgage was a HUGE responsibilty thats why we talked to allot of people we trusted before we got into this mess it wasnt their fault it was actually the sellers and the agents from both sides that screwed us but we sucked it up and rebuilt we learned allot about home improvement because we had no choice but too! now when I see all this bull about they sold all the bad mortgages I can’t believe my eyes and ears I’m not saying its not sad for people who are losing the homes but my family our whole lives had huge sacrifices and still do when times were and are tough! but we DONT EVER… LOOK FOR HANDOUTS FROM ANYONE EVER! my husband worked and i mean worked 7 days a week so much so that he had to go for numerous surgeries already at the age of 35 from bone spurs all over bad back carpal tunnel you name it he has it and yet everyone is crying wolf like they made you take these loans out did they hold a gun to your heads NO! so did all these people think it was a JOKE to own a home because it most certainly isnt and if you didnt know what the hell you were getting into SEEK HELP FIRST! I’ve never seen a sorry bunch of AMERICANS in all my life! now you want the country to bail you out give me a break! when something goes wrong with the house you want that fixed too I’m sorry but these people dont deserve to own a home get off your lazy f-in a sses and get a second third fourth job you do what you gotta do to make it work get over it
Once again a cry goes out to save the ignorant. How big was the gun the mortgage companies held against these people’s heads that forced them to sign the 30-plus pages of documents at their closings which include acknowledgement of reading the Truth in Lending Act and a detailed description of the nature of the loan? How much crack do you have to smoke to think you can afford a $2500.00/month mortgage payment when you make $750.00/month? Most of these people shouldn’t have been looking to buy a house in the first place and should be happy they got to stay in one for as long as they did. It’s time to stop supporting stupidity and irresponsibility. If you want to help somebody, why not send checks to those of us who got a house and a loan they could afford and have been making payments on time since signing the papers. But why would we want to reward people for doing the right thing and exercising a sense of reason and responsibility in their personal lives?