“I am the editor of the Honolulu Weekly and just did a cover story on the Foreclosure Fraud in Hawaii by Bank of America. Go to honoluluweekly.com to read cover story. (4/20/11). I would appreciate any feedback and might be able to use it as a letter to the editor. Aloha!”  Lucy Jokiel

Feedback can be posted on the message board as a reply to her comment here…

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The Foreclosure Fiasco

The ethics of big banking in America

by Lucy Jokiel

Some of Hawaii’s homeless say living on the beach is their preferred lifestyle, choosing to call themselves “houseless” rather than “homeless.” But for many of the 52,000 local Bank of America mortgage holders who have lost–or could lose–their houses due to the bank’s nationwide frenzy of mortgage foreclosures, the possibility of being houseless is terrifying.

Criticism is also directed at a handful of other large mainland banks, but in Hawaii, more than 30 percent of the mortgage foreclosure complaints target Bank of America (BofA), America’s largest bank, according to a report by Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE). Founded in 1996, this organization has been dealing with borrowers’ foreclosure problems for several years. The top 10 mainland lenders foreclosing in Hawaii represented 86 percent of all foreclosure notices in the state in the month of November, according to FACE. This data implies that a significant proportion of families facing foreclosure cannot meet face to face with the off-shore mortgage lender or servicer who is foreclosing on their home.

Maui homeowner, and BofA mortgage customer, Wayne Salas says, “Bank of America has misled my family and me for more than two years, enticing us to drain our savings and our pension and playing games with my families’ future. The bank is threatening to take the home that I grew up in and where I raised my family.” Salas, a longtime City & County employee, will retire from the Hawaii Army Reserve with 31 years of service in June. “We are a hardworking family, and we want to pay our mortgage,” says Salas. “But Bank of America has rigged the system; and no matter how much we pay, they have found ways to make sure that they will get our home in the end.”

Check out the rest here…

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4closureFraud.org