Video: Family Vs. Wells Fargo Bank

Rachel New's years-long effort to obtain a loan modification on her mortgage failed. And the clock is running out before the eviction of the Cal State Long Beach graduate and employee--and her mother, aunt and brothers, who moved in with the separated New to help care for her two young daughters while she worked. Her estranged husband is unemployed, and that loss of income and an unfortunate adjustable loan that began ballooning, left her underwater on her Signal Hill home.

Her end goal of a loan modification, she says, was to pay the same total but lower the monthly payment, and the federal government and taxpayers expect banks to do so, given the huge taxpayer bail-out of banks. But she says that she received a letter denying her the loan modification the day before the house was sold at auction, and Wells Fargo ended up with it, valued at about $580,000.

Her ordeal is all-too familiar for many homeowners who, like New, can afford to pay, just not pay as much. New could actually afford $3,000 a month.

The YouTube is New's version of events, with help from Occupy Long Beach. Below is OLB's version of this local case that seems to have ended quite badly. We will update with Wells Fargo Bank's updated Monday. But the protest is to beseach Wells Fargo to sell back New's house at the $580,000 price it paid for it. She says its half its value. Look at the end for the timeline of when she bought the property, got the loan, and from which of a series of loan servicers, which compound loan mod efforts.

PRESS CONFERENCE CALLED FOR ACTION AGAINST FORECLOSURE
OCCUPY LONG BEACH TO STAND WITH RACHEL AND HER FAMILY

Who: Rachel New of 2083 Freeman Ave. in Signal Hill, CA 
What: Rachel will be announcing to Wells Fargo and the L.A. Sheriff's Department that  she is not leaving her home
When: Monday, March 19th at noon
Where: Wells Fargo at 2598 Cherry Ave., Signal Hill, CA (Cherry & Willow)

Rachel New and her family—two young daughters, disabled mother, a disabled aunt, and brothers—are threatened with eviction Wednesday March 21 or soon after, despite trying for over a year to negotiate a loan modification with her bank.

Rachel came to this country as an immigrant from the killing fields of Cambodia,
where she was beaten and starved and saw people shot. She worked hard, graduated from CSU-LB, where she has worked for over 17 years. By the time her dream home was constructed, it was underwater.

For a year, although Rachel called almost every day and continually sent them the documentation they kept “losing,” Wells Fargo finally informed Rachel they were not approving her loan modification - 20 hours before selling the home to themselves at auction, and for half of the mortgage price. We are asking them to sell it back to her for the same price they purchased it for and keep the New family in their home.

Rachel recently turned to Occupy Long Beach for help.

--Wells Fargo was bailed out by $36.9 billion in taxpayer dollars, but recently gave CEO John Stumpf a raise to almost $20 million per year.

--The bailout money given to Wells Fargo could purchase 74,000 homes identical to Rachel's. CEO John Stump could purchase her home with only 2.5% of his annual salary.

--A few days ago, Wells Fargo reported a record profit of $15.9 billion, propelled by its mortgage business - the biggest in the US.

--Earlier this year, according to the Huffington Post, "Federal investigators concluded that senior managers at Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, broke laws."
--The Federal Reserve itself said that in July "more than 10,000 Wells Fargo borrowers were inappropriately steered into more expensive sub-prime mortgages or had their loan documents falsified by bank personnel."

--A recent audit by San Francisco county officials found that 84% of the recent foreclosures they reviewed had clear violations of the law.

Says Rachel New: "I put all of my life savings into this home. I am asking Wells Fargo and CEO John Stumpf to sell me my house back for the price they purchased it. I am not leaving until they work with me or make me leave."

Occupy Long Beach is standing with Rachel and her family against this unjust foreclosure and have been organizing community support.  At a protest rally at Wells Fargo in Signal Hill Friday, March 16, where Rachel talked with the Bank Manager again asking for help, fifty members of Occupy Long Beach,  Occupy Santa Ana, Occupy LA, Good Jobs LA, Service Employees International Union, Long Beach Area Peace Network, and Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and A Healthy Community pledged to stand witness at her home.

Occupy Long Beach and other supporters will set up tents Tuesday and hold a
24 hour vigil at Rachel’s home to stand up to the banks and send a clear message: "We are not leaving".

For more information:
e-mail OccupyLongBeachActions@gmail.com
or call 562-900-1009.  

UPDATED INFORMATION with TIMELINE FROM OCCUPY LONG BEACH POINTMAN BEN FISHER:

As you can see below, the servicer of the mortgage is seldom the investor/creditor. They have very little "skin in the game", which is part of the disconnect in this broken system. They make their money on fees, and they get paid if they foreclose, but don't make anything if they don't do anything (a few bucks per letter they send out and I've heard aro. $1500 for foreclosing). They kept telling Rachel that her case for mod was pending, and that they were missing paperwork, even though she kept sending it. This is very common.   Additionally, this is a case of what's called dual-tracking, which I believe the $25bln deal is supposed to rule out. It's when the "foreclosure train" and the "modification train" both leave the station at the same time, and whichever one makes it to the destination first wins. So while they say they're working with you on a mod, they're also working on foreclosing on your home.   It is also a case of someone working super hard, putting their life savings into a home, and then unemployment taking that dream away. It's scary to think that you can put $450k down and lose it all. There's really no safety net for homeowners, and the deep seeded problem of housing costs increasing while incomes are stagnant means that very few people can pay cash for a home.   We're asking that Wells Fargo sell the home to Rachel for the price they purchased it. To us "normal folk", that sounds completely reasonable. She recently went to legal aid of Orange County, who said she can pay $3k/mo. If they mark it down to the price they put it up at auction, she can stay in her home. But they need some extra motivation. That's what we're hoping to give them with some public pressure.   TIMELINE:   Rachel buys the land for $350k cash and puts $100k of her own money towards construction/drawings/permits Construction loan from July 2007 from National City Mortgage Early 2009, PNC Mortgage buys that loan Rachel tries to modify with PNC and is denied April 2010, Rachel's husband's business goes under and they can no longer make the payments Aug 23, 2010 Rushmore Loan Management Services sends her a letter that they'll be servicing on behalf of the new creditor, WELLS FARGO. I spoke with Rachel while she looked directly at this document showing that Wells owned it then. Rachel hires a consultant within a couple months of Aug 23 (date unclear for her) for $2000 to help her file for a loan mod with Wells Fargo (through Rushmore) Rachel tries for over a year to get her loan modified, being continually told that they are missing paperwork and it's pending Late Sept 2011 she finally receives a letter in the mail that they're foreclosing on her The following day it goes to auction and Wells Fargo ends up with it for $580k. This probably means it was the minimum bid at auction (as they already owned it), and likely that they've already written it down to that value. Last Friday she received her 5-day notice to vacate

TIMELINE:   Rachel buys the land for $350k cash and puts $100k of her own money towards construction/drawings/permits Construction loan from July 2007 from National City Mortgage Early 2009, PNC Mortgage buys that loan Rachel tries to modify with PNC and is denied April 2010, Rachel's husband's business goes under and they can no longer make the payments Aug 23, 2010 Rushmore Loan Management Services sends her a letter that they'll be servicing on behalf of the new creditor, WELLS FARGO. I spoke with Rachel while she looked directly at this document showing that Wells owned it then. Rachel hires a consultant within a couple months of Aug 23 (date unclear for her) for $2000 to help her file for a loan mod with Wells Fargo (through Rushmore) Rachel tries for over a year to get her loan modified, being continually told that they are missing paperwork and it's pending Late Sept 2011 she finally receives a letter in the mail that they're foreclosing on her The following day it goes to auction and Wells Fargo ends up with it for $580k. This probably means it was the minimum bid at auction (as they already owned it), and likely that they've already written it down to that value. Last Friday she received her 5-day notice to vacate

See video footage of  Rachel’s home, interview with Rachel and clips at protest rally Wells Fargo Bank 
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ3Uz-HFKS4&feature=youtu.be