E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
© 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.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Lawyer: Autistic boy's teacher didn't call him 'bastard'
- World record holder for 'longest time to live with a bullet in the head' dies
- Guess who's coming to dinner? Navy family starts unique deployment ritual
- Attorney: Zimmerman's website raised more than $200,000
- Which dress will get you barred from this prom?
Leave a Comment:
White collar criminals that hide behind laws made to protect them from
honest, law abiding citizens that they have cheated or maligned in some
way. They have money, so the local politicians give them anything that
they want, even if it is unfair. I don't see anything wrong with protesting
at the private residence of a politician or CEO as long as it is peacful and
orderly. These people need to know that they can't hide from their misdeeds!
Sharpen the guillotine.
Welld Fargo has now lost me as a potential customer for their services. Any bank engaging in such repugnant activity will not have my business. We need to start regulating banks as though they are draft horses. Put a strong bit in their mouth with stout reins, blinders on so they only see what we want them to see and hobbled so that they cannot run amuck and do so much damage to the people of this country.
Wells Fargo is a terrorist orginization caught in collusion with China.These illegal foreclosures are an act of war by a foreign interest..ALL foreclosure proceedings should be halted immediately pending investigation.
Wells Fargo,Bank of America,and Citibank are soon to be brought up on charges of treason and war crimes.
Fears US regulators will find that thousands of Americans have been unfairly evicted from their homes the scandal over the use of "robo-signers" has obviously escalated.
Employees at these mortgage firms have rubber-stamped documents to force out homeowners.
Shares in Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan all fell sharply after it emerged Wells Fargo, the second-largest US mortgage servicer, had pushed through 500 foreclosures a day at the request of a foreign based entity in China.
The growing scandal over the way homeowners have been evicted came as property data firm RealtyTrac reported that the number of houses seized by banks topped 100,000 for the first time in September. Lenders took possession of 102,134 properties in September. The state with the highest rate was Nevada.
"Lenders foreclosed on a record number of properties in September and in the third quarter, taking a bite out of the backlog of distressed properties where the foreclosure process was delayed by prevention efforts over the past 20 months," said James Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac.
Bank of America, JP Morgan and GMAC are among those to have foreclosures after discovering these "robo-signers" had approved thousands documents. At JP Morgan, the staff were known as "Burger King kids" – people who walked in from the street and barely knew what a mortgage was.
Attorney generals in 50 American states this week began a joint investigation and have warned that they believed the use of robo-signers "may constitute a deceptive act and/or an unfair practice or otherwise violate state laws".
These foreclosures are a act of war upon our citizens by a foreign entity.The law enforcement of thyese evictions should stand down until the investigation of threse war crimes come to a conclusion.
I will quote Wells Fargo here..."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."
Here you have the criminals asking the victims to abide by the law while they are comfortable in their own homes!! Jesus..You mean they cantake people's homes but they don't like anyone else disturbing them at their home? Welcome to life babe...Payback is a bitch!
We all know the Major banks are stealing homes left and right. They are just like the lying Politicians that cower for them. I hope those organizations picket his house and every other Banker's home everyday just to see how they like it. Heartless Jerks!!
Interesting, isn't it?
We are taught that back in ancient Athens, the Athenians enjoyed a democracy. What we are not taught is that 80% of the population of Athens at that time couldn't vote.
To vote in the Athenian democracy one must be a landowner. Tenants, women, and slaves could not vote.
Interestingly, the landowners of ancient Athens got together and voted on laws that protected....guess who?
If you guessed the landowners, then you win a cookie.
See, things are more like they are today then they've ever been before!
Talk about negative publicity! This woman is in her childhood home, she's in a wheelchair and she caught up with her payments and Wells Fargo is still going to foreclose? Shame on them!! Not only is what they're doing unkind its un-American. Now is the time when we should be helping each other out--big business and lending institutions included. Here's an example of where a company should do the right thing instead of simply looking at the bottom line. Must of us work hard our whole lives to buy a home and keep up on the payments--never mind the maintenance and the property taxes; and to take something like a person's home from them under this woman's circumstances is completely heartless.
Amen
she caught up with her payments and Wells Fargo is still going to foreclose?
--------------------
THere's a sucker born every minute. Has it not occurred to you that this is an impossible fact pattern that you are being presented? Is there not a scintilla of curiousity on your part about this story? I didn't think so.
Wells Fargo are crooks, I cant count the people that have got screwed over by them in one way or another and Bank of America. A friend of mine is going through the same thing with Wells Fargo and get this every time she sent the papers needed for a loan mod, somehow they were misplaced and she had to resend them again. Looking online and reading other post from others it seems they do this to alot of people. Keep dragging them along till their house is gone. So Mr. Obama where is all that help you promised us. Let this lady stay in her home is the right thing to do. What has the United States come to? We can't keep our homes, we can afford gas, and the cost of food and medication is out of control. So yeah lets all just be homeless like Wells Fargo wants...sick
If you think this is bad it's just a microcosm of what the Federal Reserve is doing to the US citizens. Open up your eyes! The Fed is a privately own bank and they OWN the U.S government.
If she truly could have paid what was past due then I think the bank should have allowed her to do that. But if she has a poor payment history and the bank has had to repeatedly take steps to try to collect from her then I could see the bank just moving on and getting her out. The bottom line is that until she has fully paid for the house, she does not own it and to try to get her debt excused for CP or any other reason is just theft. She would be taking something that someone else owns and not pay for it.
It is sad that our country, because of the lawyers and psychiatrists, has become a nation of "criminals". Even the idea of "spreading the wealth" is criminal. When that burglar breaks into your home the next time and takes your computer, iPad, flatscreen TV, etc. don't call the police - you are just doing your part to "spread the wealth" and thank the president for that opportunity.
If it is her childhood home, she does not have a "poor payment history". She is 47 years od. That means there has been a payment history of about 40 years or so, and it has only now become a problem.
They have undoubtedly paid for the home many times over in the WF interest fees.
That house may have cost 10-20K 40 years ago, and is now worth about 300-400K. WF can make a huge profit if they take it back.
she wanted to make partial payments, not the entire amount
Wells Fargo is the worst. A few years ago our $150,000 home mortgage was down to a balance of about $1,600. We sent the monthly payment in the mail and it never got to Wells Fargo (one time over a 20 year period). Within about 10 days of the payment being late we started receiving nasty threating phone calls regarding foreclosure. I'm sure they would have loved to have foreclosed on a house for which they had received 99% of the payments - pure profit for them. We immediatly paid the remaining balance on the mortage and will never do business with Wells Fargo again.
Colsak,
Are you aware that with the interest you paid over that 20 year period, you probablly paid 250K-300K for your home? They made out like bandits as they do with everyone.
I hope you are retired because if you are still working, you have lost your mortgage tax write off and the IRS will now want your money. Its the banks or the govt. Nobody else wins.
let her keep her home, she said she can make the payments. physically handicap people should have a lenancy on them that allows them more time for payments. if wells fargo wont accept the payments and puts this family out on the street it says alot about the shamefulness of big businesses in the united states
Wells Fargo is a terrorist orginization caught in collusion with China.These illegal foreclosures are an act of war by a foreign interest..ALL foreclosure proceedings should be halted immediately pending investigation.
Wells Fargo,Bank of America,and Citibank are soon to be brought up on charges of treason and war crimes.
Fears US regulators will find that thousands of Americans have been unfairly evicted from their homes the scandal over the use of "robo-signers" has obviously escalated.
Employees at these mortgage firms have rubber-stamped documents to force out homeowners.
Shares in Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan all fell sharply after it emerged Wells Fargo, the second-largest US mortgage servicer, had pushed through 500 foreclosures a day at the request of a foreign based entity in China.
The growing scandal over the way homeowners have been evicted came as property data firm RealtyTrac reported that the number of houses seized by banks topped 100,000 for the first time in September. Lenders took possession of 102,134 properties in September. The state with the highest rate was Nevada.
"Lenders foreclosed on a record number of properties in September and in the third quarter, taking a bite out of the backlog of distressed properties where the foreclosure process was delayed by prevention efforts over the past 20 months," said James Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac.
Bank of America, JP Morgan and GMAC are among those to have foreclosures after discovering these "robo-signers" had approved thousands documents. At JP Morgan, the staff were known as "Burger King kids" – people who walked in from the street and barely knew what a mortgage was.
Attorney generals in 50 American states this week began a joint investigation and have warned that they believed the use of robo-signers "may constitute a deceptive act and/or an unfair practice or otherwise violate state laws".
These foreclosures are a act of war upon our citizens by a foreign entity.The law enforcement of thyese evictions should stand down until the investigation of these war crimes come to a conclusion.
And just how many times are you going to post this same lying rant?
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank or any giant bank, They're all the same. Why anyone chooses to do business with them is incomprehensible too me. Every consumer in the country has access to local community banks or credit unions. Generally, there are no checking or savings fees and you can sit down with management to discuss any problems you may have. They don't sell your mortgage and they appreciate your business. Come on people, close your accounts with these belligerent SOB's and go local.
Wells Fargo could give a @!$%#. They'll simply take all the money paid on the house, assume the equity, then sell it all over again. The sad thing is we have unwittingly empowered these banks to control us.
Somethings GOT to eventually give.
"Talk about negative publicity! This woman is in her childhood home, she's in a wheelchair and she caught up with her payments and Wells Fargo is still going to foreclose? Shame on them!!"
"Wells Fargo are crooks, I cant count the people that have got screwed over by them in one way or another and Bank of America."
It's a waste of time to post here...I'm out.
Stay away from Wells Fargo! That company is ruthless, beyond all imagination. California career politicians; why don't you all step in and help this lady?! The wife and husband have the abilty and financial means to pay the mortgage. I wish them luck and a few prayers that they will be able to stay in thier home.
Wells Fargo is notorious for wrongful foreclosure and for not giving people a loan modification after enticing htem with it. They are being sued successfully for this very same thing. Unfortunately, lawyers don't always do their homework or represent their clients to the fullest. Investigate people! Do some background checking. Notoraized documents sent by Wells Fargo are fraudulent, in that the supposed notary doesn't even work for Wells Fargo anymore, and hasn't for years. Someone else has been using the notary stamp and forging the notary's name. Look up Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Do some research. Lawsuits are successful if the footwork is done, and you can be successful against Wells Fargo too. Stop the fraudulent foreclosures in court.
Well kbehrends...everyone is not as fortunate as you and has the liberties of monies that weren't there in the first place. You all, being as a graduate of Texas A&M, at least bragging about it, must have had money somewhere to absorb the bills. Most of the mainstream populace doesn't have this convenience.
Where's change.org? I would sign this petition in a heartbeat.
So Wells Fargo won't show any compassion. Move all your belongings out of the house and into a storage facility. Leave stuff like old sofas, mattresses, garbage, etc. Then overload the electrical system and put some pans filled with cooking oil or some other combustible, turn the burners on high. Load the oven up with some pans filled with oil and turn the oven on broil. Then leave the house and let it burn down to the ground! Payback.
a nasty situation. from my understanding they should be able to work with her? any payment is better than NO payment. i have been in a situation where i sent in what i could on a student loan. it was not much, but it was better than nothing. to my surprise it was not good enough and they sent back my payment. i was more than upset and decided. if my money is not good enough for you, then forget me trying to repay something back if YOU will not accept payment. it's bull. they can help her out, i am not buying their story for anything. it's fishy if you ask me. if she is willing to work with them, then they should be able to help her out instead of giving her the cold shoulder. it's not like she wanted to get sick, things happen. how would they like it if this happened to them? i like the statement "they refused to take her payment", that is for the birds. how can you not accept payment and try to help somebody out? this world is full of close minded money hungry people who just don't care.
Disgusting show of avarice and misanthropic behaviors by the Bank who received a bailout from Obama. My advice to the Banks~FDR went after you in the 30's and prosecuted many for lousy policies! Obama, I hope goes further and rescinds the bailout monies and demands you give back the 780 Billion and then cancels all student loan debt for all students engaged in higher education! The banks are full of yuppie no goodnicks who have plundered the middle class into poverty! Time to take back the Country, people!
Bush bailed out the banks.
Let see how this works, I put my savings into Wellfargo, they pay me interest, the more profits they make the more interest I get (demand for money increases thus interest rates paid increases) , they take MY money to someone who decides they want to buy a house. Now that person refuses to pay so I get screwed by this deadbeat as my interest rate decreases as Wellfafrgo profits fall. In addition other honest people who would like to buy a house now have a hard time getting a loan (as is now occurring) as Wellfargo knows the chance of getting paid back on loans has decreased.
So let see who are the real victims here; me as my savings are not getting hardly any interest, Wellfargo whose profits are falling, and also home buyers who can not get loans.
The bad person in all of this are people like Ana Casas Wilson who want to suck blood from hard working people
That's a pretty cynical and selfish attitude you have, Stan. You must be a Republican.
Actually, no Stan. The more profit Wells Fargo makes the more dividends they can pay to their stockholders.
You do not get more interest based on Wells Fargo's profit. You receive interest based on the interest rate set by the Fed, that is, what the banks banker is willing to charge.
If the Fed drops interest rates to near zero (like now), and Wells Fargo has record profits, Wells Fargo will not pay you more in interest than what the Fed would charge. And why should they, if you demand more because their profits are up they can tell you to go somewhere else, and just borrow more from the Fed at the rate the Fed has set.
Based on your theory, every bank would pay different rates of interest at different times of the year based upon the rise and fall of their profits. Since that doesn't happen, your theory is just plain wrong.
Stan
What in the Hell interest are you talking about??????????
The last time I checked WF was paying.20 interest on a Preferred savings account and a 1 yr CD.
That's about $8.00 a month on 100K
$4.00 a month on 50K
And less than $1.00 a month on 10K
Your "interest" argument is a joke. If you expect to make any interest, don't put it in any bank.
HAMP, HARP, and HAFA is a joke. These programs were rolled out as a political stunt to try and salvage the present administrations poor record dealing with the housing crisis. Roughly less than 1% of applicants to these programs end up with a modification. The reason is the banks are carrying billions of dollars of second mortgages on their balance sheets that should have been written down, so they play the stall game, lost paperwork, sorry we cannot accept that last appraisal you filed with your first request for a modification we gave you the run around on a year ago, or we have no record of receiving that fax. and so on. The fact is if they gave modifications out under these programs it would bankrupt those institutions because they would be forced to write off the seconds. So the Fed just keeps pumping the money into the banks at 0% so the people who saved all these years get punished and now they are taking aim at everyones 401K's.
You think the national media will report this on the evening news? Probably not. They would rather divide the country with stories that promote racial tension and division. How else can the banks get away with "thievery". A people divided will not rally together against the banks and the corrupt political system of this country. We don't need an election in 2012. "We need a REVOLUTION".
childhood home + 49years old + mortgage = ???
They didnt mention the loan she took out against the paid off house and what that went into. Unless im wrong of course and her parents had a 90 year mortage like so many do.
I thought about that also..............they have taken out other loans on this property so the house is at risk because of those decisions (not saying they were wrong to do so). Also a lot of people keep talking about taking late and partial payments there is a reason that lending institutions a lot of times don't do that.........historically it doesn't work in anyone's favor and it just expands the cost and length of the problem it's the sinking ship situation better to abandon early and save more than stay on to long and go down.
tru and gtoch,
Please realize that all those years (40+) She and her mother have paid interest on those loans. They have paid for the original price of the home many times over. They did not have much of an income, so even if they did take out a loan , it would have been a small one. The house may have cost 10-20K 40 years ago and is now worth 300-400K. The bank will profit big time when they take her house.
The latest loan may not be from the origianl lender so they haven't been paid several times over with interest.