Move Your BIG Money

The foreclosure crisis has pounded cities across America and New York
City is certainly no exception. In 2009, there were
50,000 foreclosures in the entire state-nearly half were in the Big
Apple. And just as we are seeing in communities
everywhere, the crisis is getting worse, not better. New York City
foreclosures were up
16 percent
in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period
last year. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association,
over 265

The foreclosure crisis has pounded cities across America and New York
City is certainly no exception. In 2009, there were
50,000 foreclosures in the entire state-nearly half were in the Big
Apple. And just as we are seeing in communities
everywhere, the crisis is getting worse, not better. New York City
foreclosures were up
16 percent
in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period
last year. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association,
over 265,000 mortgages-13 percent of the mortgages in New York
State-are now past due or in the foreclosure process. Meanwhile,
banks have made less than 12,000 permanent modifications in the state
since May 2009.

On Wednesday, at a press conference at the Manhattan Municipal
Building, the most powerful local union presidents and the city's chief
financial officer told the Big Banks enough is enough. Rather
than wait on the Obama Administration to finally put some teeth into
its voluntary mortgage modification program (that the banks are
voluntarily taking a pass on), these leaders are taking matters into
their own hands.

Call it the Move Your BIG Money campaign.

City Comptroller John Liu and the union leaders described a letter
they sent to the Banksters laying out specific concerns and demanding
answers by September 1. They want to know what the banks
are doing to increase the number of modifications including principal
write-downs? What's being done to expedite the
modification process and stop foreclosure proceedings while applications
are being reviewed? What's being done to improve
performance so that homeowners stop receiving multiple requests for
already-submitted documents, and then are foreclosed on because banks
erroneously say that they never got those same documents?

In short, what are the banks doing to address the various stages of
hell homeowners find themselves in due to the banks' unwillingness to
strike a fair deal?

The threat made implicitly in the letter-and explicitly by some of
the union leaders-is that these institutional investors will move their
pensions and other monies to alternative financial institutions if the
Big Banks don't improve their responsiveness to this crisis in a hurry. If
money talks, this is a message that packs a wallop-we're talking BIG
unions representing over 500,000 working families-with BIG resources: 1199 SEIU is the
largest of all union locals in the US; DC 37 is the largest public employees
local in the US; the United
Federation of Teachers
is the largest teachers local in the US; Transport
Workers Union Local 100
; the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council; the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union;
and 32BJ SEIUis the largest property
service workers union in the US.

Joining the signatories of the letter at the press conference was New York
Communities for Change
(NYCC), a coalition of low- and
moderate-income working families fighting for social and economic
justice throughout New York State.

"Our banking institutions are employing the same practices that led
to the foreclosure crisis while ignoring borrowers stuck with troubled
mortgages and the imminent threat of being thrown out of their homes,"
said Jon Kest, executive director of NYCC. "Banks continue
to take advantage of our most vulnerable communities by refusing to
modify mortgages or even respond to loan modification proposals. The
action taken by New York City's Comptroller and labor leaders signifies
the need across the country for a dramatic shift in how the banks deal
with borrowers. These institutions have the ability to use
their offices and resources to finally force the banks to get right and
we are encouraged to see this significant first-step."

Kest is absolutely right, this is indeed a significant first step. Banks
are permitting a vicious cycle to continue which is harmful to all of
us: families are losing homes, neighbors who remain behind see declining
property values, local and state revenues plummet, and the economy
continues to drag with 15 million Americans out of work and Depression
levels of unemployment in minority communities.

Here's hoping other civic and labor leaders follow the New York City
lead-it's time to Move the BIG Money.

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