Citibank Cancels Foreclosure Auction of Minneapolis Mom’s Home; Commits to Loan Modification With Reduced Payments
Minneapolis, MN — After a several month campaign pressuring Citibank to negotiate with Colleen Mckee Espinosa and a last minute blitz of social media, petition signatures, and calls to the office of CEO Vikram Pandit, Citibank canceled a scheduled sheriff’s sale and approved a loan modification for the Espinosa’s home. An official with CitiMortgage’s Executive Response Unit contacted the Espinosa family with news that Citibank had approved a loan modification that would keep the family in their home and reduce their payments by one-third on a 7.5 year payment plan. The dramatic news came less than 24 hours before the house was to be sold at auction on Wednesday, June 13.
“I’m so relieved that my family’s home of 16 years will not be on the auction block tomorrow,” said Colleen McKee Espinosa, a nurse and single mother who received widespread support after she pledged not to leave her home without a good faith negotiation. “We are grateful that Citibank has decided to accept my payments, and we look forward to signing the final paperwork.”
Allies from around the country, including OccupyOurHomes.org and Occupy Wall Street, as well as Mckee Espinosa’s union the Minnesota Nurses Association, helped to rally support for the family.
“I am deeply grateful to everyone from across the country who stood with our family as we fought our foreclosure,” said Nick Espinosa, Colleen’s son, and an organizer with Occupy Homes MN. “I’m inspired by the outpouring of community support, and it renews my commitment to stand with other families who are struggling to stay in their homes.”
“I’m incredibly proud of what this family has accomplished,” said Anthony Newby of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change. “They’ve managed to rally hundreds of community members to stand with them to save their home. Their campaign will undoubtedly empower other families to stand up and do the same.”
Colleen Mckee Espinosa continued, “When I first learned we were in foreclosure, I felt ashamed and isolated, and sure we were going to lose our home. As I resolved to fight, I realized I had nothing to be ashamed of. If anyone should be ashamed, it’s the banks for tearing apart our communities after we bailed them out with our tax dollars. When we stand together we can win, and I believe thousands more will.”
Nick Espinosa continued, “This negotiation represents a victory not just for our family, but for millions of families facing foreclosures across the country. Countless families could stay in their homes if banks simply modified their loans based on the actual market value and reduced their principal, instead of the price to which banks inflated them before they crashed our economy. As with Monique White and Bobby Hull here in Minneapolis, and others standing up across the nation, we see that when a community stands behind a family and draws attention to their case, the banks are more than capable of solving it. If they can fix it for our family, they can fix it for millions of others.”
Occupy Homes MN is organizing to support other homeowners in situations similar to Colleen Espinosa. They continue to work toward a solution for the Cruz family in South Minneapolis as well as suburban homeowners like John Vinje & Lucinda Vinje-Adams, and Frank & Christina Clark. To learn more about their work, visit occupyhomesmn.org or call 612-460-STAY.
Supporters will hold BBQ Celebration at 6pm at the home of Gerardo Cajamarca at 5613 Standish Ave S who is fighting an imminent eviction.
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you wont like the final papers….they will screw u somehow…balloon payment for last payment…i hope not. CITI BANK sold my school loans after 5 years of 300/mo the new owners have no record of what was paid. They just tac on their fee and when thats paid up they send that on to someone new who does same……..its like the mort industry…..nothing ever gets paid…..just steady flow of cash to the crooks….forever.Haha…and we thought gauranteed by fed gov was a good thing….do u still think so ? rates to jump….yeahhhh get more money from the m class…..and the kiker is their spending habits wont change so they will need more from us…..and soon.
We would Hope the extreme Dis Advantaged DUPED MOM, signed [put a CURSE on her name ]the Mortgage [Death Pledge] Modification [ Scheme to RE Claim the NOTE they Do NOT Have; needed to Foreclose] Under THREAT DURESS and Coercion to Protect Her FUTURE [U.C.C. 1-308, formerly 1-207 Rights] when THEY STEAL the Equity out or Her abode Later They Will STEAL IT the treacherous VIPERS!
How is this a Victory, when Citibank undoubtedly never owned the loan in the first place. Were there any offsets, was discovery propounded, were defects cured after the action was initiated, did the attorneys even have the legal authority to represent Citibank? In this case, how many violations of TILA, RESPA, RICO, and Securities Laws were committed by the various “holders” of the instruments? Was there clear Chain of Title, or is this just another case where “you borrowed the money, you owe the money” and other moral obligation scams came into play? Loan mods in the era of fraudulent securitization are DEFEAT, not Victory.
A Loan Mod can work if it is written correctly, if the interest rate drops to at least 2% including a principal reduction and no attorney or back payment fees of any kind that will normally cut the payment by at least 50% or more.
The leverage one needs is violations, and there should be lots of them, TILA, RESPA, Securitization, Notary Misconduct, Per-Diem, Robo-Signing, back dating, missing the cut off date for Securitization, MERS, Insurances, just to name a few.
When you have the right person put these violations forward the Bank will give in, especially if they know you are going to expose them to their private investors and knowing they will lose in court.
We are an audit company and we work very closely with a Company who does not lose if, and I say it again, IF, we can provide that company with the evidence they need to force the Bank to the negotiation table. This company has an impeccable record, every client they have taken on in 2011 and 2012 they have been successful in negotiating a settlement, and we are talking a settlement that is finically intelligent.
Dave
FAS
(888) 328-4877
You got it!!! they did, well tried to do that with us…4,5 times don’t remember exactly ,after 6 months you have to pay that AND MUCH MORE…its another trick more.
By the way ,we have to hurry up, they bought a lot of judges in California, and started to dismiss the the fraud claims WITH PREJUDICE… This is not. Over for all of us…we are facing a dark future …..only if we are united we will win….take care people….search..investigate..don’t wait for One of the Crook attorneys to just get the few bucks you hardly keep…
…of course we lost all with a lot of help of one of this bastards….
Notice it’s only 7.5 years and then you have to pay back everything they modified payment wise and the house payment either goes back to what it was or higher.This why moifications only work in a temporary format.They are not a solution for the problem only a bandaid .I wish them the best of luck but this will only bring the next round of foreclosures.