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The Bayview residence of Carolyn Gage who, facing foreclosure, held a press conference early this winter announcing that she and her grown daughters would “reoccupy” their home. Photo by Lisa Tehrani

January 2012

Bayview Foreclosure Fighters Take a Stand

Katrina Schwartz

Some Bayview residents have taken heart from the Occupy San Francisco movement, and decided that they won’t let the banks that took their homes continue to determine their fortunes. The group calls itself San Francisco Foreclosure Fighters, and consists of City dwellers that are fed-up with callous financial institutions.  Earlier this winter Carolyn Gage held a press conference to announce that she and her two grown daughters were going to “reoccupy” their home. “I am here today because I am reclaiming my home. My neighbors and I are tired of banks destroying our communities, kicking families out of their homes, and the government doing nothing to stop them,” Gage said.

The house is located at 1335 Quesada Avenue.  It was built by Gage’s father more than 50 years ago. “For the past three years I have attempted to pay my mortgage, modify my mortgage, and even sue the bank. They have done nothing to work with me,” said Gage.  Instead of passively following the eviction notice, Gage moved back in.

Gage, like other Bayview-Hunter Point residents, believes that she was a victim of predatory loan practices.  She held almost all of her wealth in her house, which was fully paid off at one point. She refinanced in the late-1990s to pay for home improvements.  She refinanced again to lower her rates, and was promised that her monthly payments would fall.  But they never did.  

Gage refinanced four times, the last time in 2006.   At that point, Gage was living off worker’s compensation; she was injured while working as a San Francisco Police Department deputy.  Gage alternated between working and disability, but the worker’s comp payments weren’t consistent, making it difficult for her to keep up with her mortgage, which assessed almost an 11 percent interest rate.  In 2007, the bank foreclosed on her house.  Gage has been fighting what she calls an “illegal foreclosure” ever since.  She even had her loan documents audited, and found several violations of the Truth in Lending Act.  “I know it was predatory. I know I was targeted. After 50 years you don’t just walk away from the legacy you worked so hard for,” said Gage.

The Foreclosure Fighter event drew a crowd of roughly fifty supporters, including Supervisor John Avalos.  “We are losing our diversity in San Francisco,” said Avalos.   Some participants were from the Occupy San Francisco encampment, which sprung up as a protest against the practices of big banks, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase.

The march down Quesada Avenue to Gage’s home, and her announcement that she’d reclaim the property, attracted substantial media attention. But it was also intended as a day of action. Organizers asked those assembled to take out their cell phones and call Bayview Lending, the Florida-based company that now owns Gage’s loan.  The number didn’t work.  According to Gage, she’s working with the Mission Economic Development Association to reach the lender and work out a deal.

Another Quesada Avenue resident and foreclosed homeowner, Vivian Richardson, said she benefited from the day of action.  Supporters sent 1,400 emails to Aurora Loans, the company that owns Richardson’s mortgage, in just three hours. About a week later Richardson got a call from Aurora, who told her that they were finally willing to discuss modifying her loan. Richardson was grateful, and hoped things would work out, but knew it was the support of others that gave her this break. “He asked me if I could update my Facebook status to let the people know I was in communication with them,” she laughed.

Richardson didn’t think the mortgage company’s behavior had been very funny up until now. She’d been communicating with the loan company about her financial status since 2006, when she lost her telecom sales job and scrambled to find retail work, finally settling on caregiving. She wanted the company to know early-on that she wasn’t going to be able to meet her mortgage payments, so they could work something out.  “I got refused a number of times. They said it was because of my income,” said Richardson. The intransience of lenders to help borrowers in trouble is what angered Gage and her neighbors. “Some of us are deciding we have to stand up for ourselves and fight back and fight for what’s ours,” Gage said.

 

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