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© Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters / REUTERS
Ana Casas Wilson, who has cerebral palsy, sits in the living room of her South Gate, Calif. in December 2011. Wells Fargo has completed foreclosure on the home and eviction could be imminent, but Wilson refuses to leave, and argues that the foreclosure was unecessary.
A woman engaged in a bitter battle with Wells Fargo over foreclosure of her southern California home was arrested late Thursday at the tony residence of the bank's CFO in San Marino, where she and dozens of supporters were protesting.
Ana Casas Wilson, 49, who lives in the working-class neighborhood of South Gate, faces eviction from her childhood home. Like many people who have been through foreclosure, she says that the bank wrongly denied her a loan modification and moved to foreclose even when she was able to catch up.
In an action that is becoming increasingly common, Wilson has taken her complaint public and her protest directly to bank officials. In Thursday’s protest, with at least 80 supporters, she attempted to deliver her mortgage payment directly to Tim Sloan, the top financial officer for Wells Fargo. In addition to protesting the foreclosure, the group was challenging an ordinance created last year making it harder to picket in this wealthy enclave.
"People are deciding to take this stand that was previously a little unthinkable," said Peter Kuhns, with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which helped organize this and other "home defense" actions. "They are risking arrest, refusing to leave, getting their families involved and putting themselves out there."
Many people are shedding the sense of shame of foreclosure, which kept most people silent in the past, even if they didn’t think they had done anything wrong, he said.
"More and more people are standing up and willing to go public because there is no other remedy and putting public pressure on the bank," said Kuhns.
Wells Fargo did not respond directly to Wilson's situation, but provided a statement in response to queries about her.
"Wells Fargo works very hard to keep customers in their homes whenever possible," said the statement, sent by Jennifer Langan in corporate communications. "We review our customers for a variety of modification options, from HAMP, HARP, HAFA and through our own proprietary programs. Despite these efforts, if a customer is 16 or more months delinquent, it can be extremely difficult to recover."
Some homeowners who have taken this high-profile approach in their fight against foreclosure, enlisting the support of protesters from the Occupy movement and housing activists, are finding success at it.
Occupy movement targets Wells Fargo shareholder meeting
The case of Rose Gudiel, reported by msnbc.com last year, is one example. In October, Gudiel was hunkered down in her home, surrounded by supporters, awaiting eviction. But at the eleventh hour, lender Fanny Mae canceled the eviction notice and offered her a loan modification, enabling her to keep the home.
Peter Kuhns, ACCE
Ana Casas Wilson, sitting, and supporter Rose Gudiel demonstrating in front of the home of Wells Fargo CFO Tim Sloand on Thursday.
Many similar foreclosure battles are under way nationwide, with support from a movement called Occupy our Homes.
Wilson, who has cerebral palsy, lives with her husband, who works as a school janitor, her teen son and her mother, who helps care for her. She has worked as a court reporter, and as an advocate for the disabled.
The trouble covering the mortgage started when she was treated for breast cancer in 2009, and her husband’s income declined as a result of cutting hours to help take care of her. They got behind, but their income stabilized several months later. By then, the bank had moved into foreclosure proceedings and would not accept her payments or discuss ways to catch up, Kuhns said.
The implication in Wells Fargo's statement that Wilson was 16 months behind is misleading, says Kuhns, because for most of that time, the bank refused to take her payments.
Thursday’s protest was on Wilson’s behalf, and it was more generally challenging a San Marino ordinance adopted last November – just a few weeks after a protest of predatory lending practices on Sloan’s front lawn. That demonstration, involving about 100 protesters, was peaceful and ended without incident, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Under the statute, picketers must keep 150 feet from a target residence, or 75 feet from the curb adjacent to the home, whichever is farther.
"The purpose of the ordinance is not to reduce picketing, but to protect the people who are the victims of picketing," police Chief John Schaefer told the Times when it was passed. "We're a prime target. We have a lot of people who fit the profile to be the victim of this type of crime."
Video from the protest posted by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune shows protesters carrying signs and chanting "Wells Fargo, shame on you!" in the street in front of the home.
Wilson is shown crossing a police cordon in her wheelchair to deliver a check to Sloan. She knocks several times, but gets no answer.
"He's embarrassed," Wilson tells the Tribune. "That's why he won't come out. ... He knows that what they are doing is wrong."
Wilson was arrested under the anti-picketing statute, after protesters and police faced off for about two hours. She was released about an hour later and is expected to appear in court in early June.
"The leaders of Wells Fargo and the members of their family should be afforded the right to feel safe in their private residence and we encourage all organizations choosing to demonstrate at private residences to abide by the law for the safety of the general public," the Wells Fargo statement said.
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When business runs the government, there is no room for charity, honesty or forgiveness. We are now run by business who buys and influences our government. The Supreme Court has given business the right to control who takes office. This is not the country of our four fathers.
Remember, the Republican Party favors this kind of situation and promisses more of the same in the future. What is good for the Republican Party is not necessarily good for the nation.
Money equals free speech now days, who are the ones putting up the money?
Jefferson said that every now and then the "Tree of Liberty" needs watered with the blood of Tyrants and Patriots.
He knew that the Tyrants would be here, not some foreign country.
We are all sitting around protesting while the United States is being devoured by the wolves. Obviously the wolves don't give a s*** about our protests. They have congress (intentionally not capitalized) on their payroll and under their thumbs. The "regulatory commissions" exist to protect them and not us. The United States of America is becoming a third world country controlled by the scumbags who control the money worldwide. The government grunts are too busy partying to do their jobs. We are now getting "news" reports about how well the economy is "recovering". The closer to November we get the better the reports will be.
She should have been arrested - she violated the law. It is ignorant of her and the useless Occupy people to bother employees at home. If you have a problem with the system, then take care of it at their employer or through the court system. This nutty woman should go to jail.
Our right to protest is an important tool. You are either ignorant of how hard it is to maintain the freedoms we have or you dont' care.
While you are right Jeff, we all know that you can't go to an employees private residence and conduct business, this was just for show, to get attention. I say if the lady has all 16 payments that she is behind, the bank should take it. Her mother is probably getting social security, her SSI, and her husband works for the school board so they must have good insurance. She should be able to keep up the payments. The husband doesn't need to miss work to be home, she has Mom and the teenage son.
Banks don't care what you think of them. They do care if they lose money. I am taking my investment accounts out of Wells Fargo on Monday. Any one who has the option should do the same. Yes, I have seen banks (especially Bank of America - what an ironic name) foreclose on homes even when the payments are being made. They seem intent to seize a small house which is someone's whole world, but will be worth almost nothing to them. It stretches the realm of rationality. Unless people fight back - with publicity and subsequent withdrawal of financial support - we are all doomed. Yes, eventually even the myopic, money hungry bankers will have nothing. They will have destroyed the economy which has been supplying their income.
"the victim of this type of crime."?!?!?!?!
So, now free-speech is a "crime" ?!?!?!? WTF ?!?!?
At my age, I suspect I'll be dead before the Constitution is entirely obliterated, and glad for it, too. , but at the rate it's getting flushed don the old crapper, maybe I won't be so lucky.
Maybe grabbing the property is the true goal. When the banks and the gooberment own everything the people will end up working their buns off and paying all their lives to rent a little hole in the wall. Like other 3rd world countries. Oh yeah, the right to protest will be gone, and erased from the history books.
No, we will take it back before then.
2 thumbs up to you jerryb...the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Seems the USA is heading in that direction at an alarming rate!! There are more empty homes in the US than you can shake a stick at..they sit empty..get looted for anything of the least value and then,because they have been wrecked by looters,they get torn down.The Government spends, literally, billions of dollars on war in other countries while people in their own country are being thrown out of their homes,not knowing where they will go or even where their next meal will come from.Why,when the US is supposed to be such a rich country,is it 15 trillion dollars in debt?....GREED...WAR MONGERING...and not caring for their own.I don't blame Ms. Wilson for protesting the way see did..it's a way to draw attention to a situation that just should not be happening!! If more people would stand up and protest with her,then the banks would have to change their ways.It all needs to stop,for the sake of the people..if you can't do it for her...at least do it for the children who are starving,1/3 of all the kids in the US go without food most days...STAND UP AND SAY "NO" TO WAR,TO HOMELESSNESS,TO STARVATION,TO FORECLOSURE..STAND UP AND SAY YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE WAY YOUR GOV's. ARE RUNNING THE COUNTRY !!! And it's not one political party or the other that's running the country to hell in a handbasket..it's all of them!!
Keith-1952...ya better start now!
It's easy... make your payments or move out. Banks were not bailed out, you were. You want the bank to fail because nobody wants to be responsible for making their payments? Banks fail and you lose whatever you had on deposit. The banks bailed out the depositors for the losers who could not make their house payments. And yeah, I know about insurance, the FDIC is already in the red. Too many banks fail at the same time and good-bye to insurance. The fact that she is disabled has nothing to do with it. Let's just give free housing to all of the bottom feeders in the economy. It's easy for the occupy losers to spend other people's money.
They didn't bail out a single citizen, all they bailed out were rich guys, Banks and Insurance companies.
The bottom feeders are the crooked bankers that couldn't run their banks properly so they had to be bailed out and they all still got their bonuses.
We would Never had Foreclosures.. if Banks made you a Renter.. if you Can't make payments to purchase
your Home... This Idea is now being tested Nationwide... should be standard.
The bank guy is not the "Victim" he is the perpetrator. The protesters are the victims, ripped off by lying bank employees. The laws aren't to protect anyone they are to keep us riff raff from bothering the rich guys in their million dollar homes.
To Jeff from Chicago - Try walking a mile in her shoes. I am someone who has been given the benefits of a secure, pleasant suburban childhood, an excellent public school education, an excellent college education, an excellent post graduate education. I have since worked extremely hard, have raised a family to believe in hard work and personal responsibility. Please note - the operative word is GIVEN. I appreciated it then and I still do. I have never had to go through what this woman and so many others do. BUT I have the capacity for empathy and humanity. What good will it do Wells Fargo to take her house ? I am very concerned about the self-righteous anger which is taking over rationality and humanity in US politics. You need to take a look at the source of your superior attitude and anger toward this woman. Then cast your stones if you still feel entitled.
Agree jerryb. PBS's Frontline this week was on this topic. In 1999- forgot her name-was testifying at a congressional hearing warning about a meltdown but Allen Greenspan said "What? Me Worry"? Congress went with Greenspan and the big fish eat little fish.
A brief reality check: To which political party do you imagine Tim Sloan belongs, and to which party do you think Ana Wilson belongs? That ought to clear things up a little for those Americans who actually vote. (That in itself begs the question: Which party attempts to decrease the voter registration rolls overall, and which tries to increase them? Tea baggers will not like the answer, but then again there are a *lot* of truths that make them uncomfortable.)
In my opinion Wells Fargo is one of the most vile companies in the U.S. A close family member of mine was in a similar situation. Got behind because of a serious illness and every time she paid them what they said she owed to catch up, they changed the amount. It took a lot of phone calls and a lawyer to finally force them to accept the amount they stated as the final payment to make her account current. We believe they wanted to foreclose on the home because it was worth twice what my niece and her husband paid for it and the property also has mineral rights for the gas company that is drilling nearby. Wells Fargo, CitiBank and a few others have been cited and fined for their unethical behavior in regard to foreclosures. It looks like that didn't teach them a lesson. Maybe some of their executives need to go to jail before they "get it".
This crisis is the end result of the Bush regime turning a blind eye to the rape of American middle class & poor citizens. It would be suicide for our country to allow a republican within a mile of the White House. If you agree that the wealthiest of the wealthy deserve to pay even less taxes than they do now which is a level less than what the ordinary citizen pays then go ahead & vote for the GOP.
A little bit more every day, the French revolution is making sense.
Hey guys, hows that change thing going now? thanks obama, I really appreciate all you've done for aig, gm, chrysler, banks, attorneys, ceo's, and big business. I'm sure this woman is happy as well. I really don't appreciate all of your lies, from "I didn't bow to the saudi prince" to "I'll have more flexibility"
...while those who no longer have a home, thanks to Wells Fargo foreclosing on them, should have the right to feel safe on the street in a cardboard box, a shopping cart with all their belongings next to them."
Hmm gee even when someone can pay the banks still foreclose, happy that yer tax dollars were used to save these soulless androids that dare to call themselves human?
I don't understand why the woman is holding a sign that says "Stop predatory loans" when the story states she fell behind on payments due to personal circumstances, this was not due to a predatory loan... Also, a contract is a contract, I find it mind boggling that people were happy to sign the paperwork when the loan was made and now want to back out on their obligations. Simple business people- plain and simple.
I was about to comment on another thread, about the blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's apparent escape from house arrest for the crime of protesting against the policies of their government, how fortunate we are to live in a country where people are not legally harassed for daring to express their conscience and seek redress for wrongs they've suffered.. then I read this carp.
Get arrested, tormented and legally harassed for protesting the government in China. Get arrested, tormented and legally harassed for protesting mega-corporations in America. The only difference appears to be who holds the power to have you arrested. Gotta live this world we live in, these days...
...to make it worse, bankers foreclose the jail house ...she has no place to stay.
She needs to have some...foreclosure?
It's hard to believe that this is happening in America! All because of corrupt financial corporations & their Wall Street Buddies have taken advantage of the 99% American People and ALL BECAUSE OF THEIR CORRUPT Capitalistic GREED of which there is ZERO CONTROL in our government to stop this Republican corruption! NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS!!! This time their corruption took the WORLD DOWN TOO! How in the hell did they ever get away with it! IT'S SIMPLE, Corrupt Republican Corporate Political Puppets! They have caused the downfall of America, AND IT IS JUST STARTING with NO ESCAPE!
Vote STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC, the lives you save WILL be YOURS & your CHILDREN! Our recovery from this mess will be long & enduring for us and our families! The Republican financial corporates put us in a very, very deep hole to recover from & ALL BECAUSE OF CAPITALISTIC GREED!
What if banks just didn't exist anymore, then what? What home could you pay cash for?!
Unfair question Jane. What if only fair and honest banks existed? Forget those banks and join a credit union, they are so much nicer to do business with.
Not an unfair question, most credit unions work with a larger mortgage lender and sell your loan anyway...
If you don't blame the banks for the present continued recession, you haven't tried to get any loans lately. These people are INSANE!!! My credit score is over 800 and I owe 2 homes free and clear. It still took me over 3 months to refinance my primary residence in which I have 35% equity. I just bought 3 more homes at bargain prices and put 40% down. I'm still waiting to close on the last one. I have 3 contractors waiting to do repairs on this last one, but after being rescheduled 5 times, they just don't believe me anymore. This is causing me to lose a lot of money and drive me crazy, since I can't plan and neither can the contractors.
Multiply this by 100 to get up into the big leagues and it is VERY easy to understand why our economy is SOOO SCREWED UP!! The banks will blame the evil government for making them follow all these rules, but the truth is, they are just stupid, incompetent, and irresponsible and the worst thing is, there is NO downside for them to be this way. All I've gotten so far is: "I'm soooo sorry" about 100 times, while I'm losing my ass waiting on these idiots just to DO their damn job!
I'm thinking that someone should set up a public rating system for banks and their evil underwriters and appraisers so that there is at least some way for John Public to make these bstids responsible and have some downside for their incompetence!!
The Banks caused this Depression and they are responsible for it going so long.
sounds like you should vote for obama so he can punish you for being successful and wanting to make money and put people to work as soon as your income reaches over 1 million
Wells Fargo? My least favorite bank in the world today. They couldn't properly endorse a check payable to us both from my homeowner's insurance and my bank couldn't cash it. I've given up on getting WF to do right. I shouldn't have to make a fourth trip to their branch to get them to use the right f'ing stamp! What kind of bank doesn't know how to properly endorse a check??? My insurance co. is issuing a check to me and the contractor. Bleep WF.
The will not cash their own checks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I only have my mortgage there. They would have gladly cashed it for me should I use it to open an account. But I told them it's a repair claim check so the money is going to the contractor - it wouldn't be an account I'd keep open and frankly, no don't want to. "Oh, ok, it needs two stamps and so and so isn't here but I can do mine." Whomp. Each visit, same story and the person I would speak to would add their stamp but never that ellusive second one I needed but I always got the offer to open up an account.
My neighbors went through the same kind of thing with there mortgage co/bank, I babysat for months for free so that they could come to a settlement, work it out and keep there house. These bank's can defer payments, but they drag things out, charge fee's and penalties, and wear people out.
Arrested come on give this women a warning, and some media attention.
I'm shocked at how many people side with the banks and mortgage co's, I'll side with people trying to keep their homes every time, over some Co that couldn't care less about making American homeless!