My Mom to Citibank: Here’s your money. Bank: We don’t care.

My mom, Colleen McKee Espinosa, has worked as a nurse for 22 years. She has paid her mortgage with Citibank for 16 years and raised three of us in her Northeast Minneapolis home.

This Wednesday, Citibank plans to auction off our home at a sheriff sale even though our family has the money to pay the mortgage and has been in discussion with the bank to arrange a payment plan.

As many of you know, I have had the privilege to work with Occupy Homes and help other Minnesota families fight foreclosure and keep their homes. Now I need to ask your help for my mom:

Please sign the petition to ask Citibank to let my mom pay her mortgage and stay in her home.

http://act.engagementlab.org/sign/occupyhomes_citibank_espinosa/

Last year, my mom, Colleen, attempted to pay her Citibank mortgage and catch up on three past-due payments on the indicated due date. The bank told her the home had already been sent into foreclosure. “I came up with the money I owed them but they wouldn’t take it,” she said.

My mom was reluctant to become an activist or public figure. “You aren’t going to bring those Occupiers to my house!” she told me. And she was embarrassed that she had fallen behind on her bills, even though she has worked hard her whole life and put together the money to catch up.

But as she faced the impending loss of our home, my mom joined forces with other Occupy Homes activists and began a community campaign to ask Citibank to negotiate a fair settlement that would let her keep her home and finish paying a mortgage that, until recently had only had three years of payments left.

After the Minneapolis Star Tribune1, the blog Crooks and Liars2, and others covered the story, Citibank officials contacted our family and said they were doing everything they could to resolve the case, assigning us a contact in the “executive response unit.” Despite this, it appears they the bank is moving to auction the home at a sheriff’s sale this Wednesday at the Hennepin County Government Center, after which time the bank would have no legal obligation to work with the family.

My mom and I are grateful to her neighbors, her union, the Minnesota Nurses Association3, and the St. Anthony East Neighborhood Association who have called for Citibank to negotiate to work out an agreement so our family can keep our house.

Please write to Citibank to ask them to let my mom pay her mortgage and stay in her home.

http://act.engagementlab.org/sign/occupyhomes_citibank_espinosa/

Thank you for your help and support,

Nick Espinosa

Occupy Homes MN


1. Minnesota Star Tribune, “For Occupy activist, battle on foreclosure hits home,” 5/1/2012

http://www.startribune.com/local/149765465.html

2. Crooks & Liars, “Mother of Three Fights Citibank on Foreclosure,” 6/8/12

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/mother-three-fights-citibank-foreclosu

3. Minnesota Nurses, “Support MNA RN Colleen Espinosa as she fights to keep her home!” 6/1/12

http://mnablog.com/2012/06/01/support-mna-rn-colleen-espinosa-as-she-fights-to-keep-her-home/

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4closureFraud.org