Despite Rhetoric on Foreclosure, Bank of America Refuses to Help Americans Like Edda Lopez and Renee Lee Keep Homes They've Owned For Decades

Vigil Latest in Nationwide Effort to Demand Banks Implement Effective Foreclosure Prevention Programs

New York, NY--Dozens of clergy, community members and Americans facing foreclosure held a vigil outside the Bank of America Tower in New York today to call on the bank to implement effective foreclosure prevention programs and help Americans like Edda Lopez and Renee Lee save their homes. Bank of America refused to meet with Lopez and Lee, instead dispatching security to prevent them from entering the building.

Despite owning approximately one out of four mortgages nationwide, Bank of America has offered permanent modifications to just 5.2 percent of the 1 million customers eligible for the federal government's mortgage modification program.

"I was living the American Dream. Now I'm living a nightmare that never seems to end," said Renee Lee, a public employee and member of SEIU Local 1000 who traveled to the vigil from Sacramento, California. "The reckless actions of Bank of America already crashed our economy and put jobs and critical services on the chopping block. Now the bank wants to put me and my granddaughter on the street."

Lee bought her home 21 years ago and never missed a payment until public employees in California were forced to take furlough days to help fix the state's budget gap. Lee was able to negotiate a modification but her mortgage was sold to Bank of America earlier this year. Despite attending one of Bank of America's massive foreclosure prevention seminars, the bank refused to honor the agreement and instead raised her mortgage payments.

"When you foreclose on someone, it's not just their home. It's their family, their history and their entire life," said Edda Lopez. Lopez bought her home in the Bronx more than two decades ago but fell behind on her mortgage after the illness and death of husband. Although Lopez renegotiated her mortgage payment under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), Bank of America refuses to honor the agreement and plans to sell her home at the end of the month.

"I'm not asking to be excused from paying my mortgage," said Lopez at the vigil. "I simply want Bank of America to honor the mortgage modification they promised me. I don't want to lose the home I built with my husband and my family."

Clergy members joined Lopez, Lee, and community members in prayer and called on Bank of America to act to help all Americans keep their homes.

"Coast to coast, we've seen that Bank of America is bad for America," said Pastor Doug Cunningham of New Day United Methodist Church. "Bank of America needs to listen to the growing number of people calling for Bank of America to start being good for America. As people of faith, we will continue to stand with Edda, Renee, and all of our sisters and brothers who continue to suffer because of the greed of Wall Street banks like Bank of America until we win the justice we deserve."

Today's vigil is the latest in a series of actions across the country to demand real solutions to America's foreclosure crisis.

Upcoming Foreclosure Prevention Action:

Tuesday, June 29, Chicago: members of National People's Action will release a report, "Bank of America Residential Foreclosures in 2009" detailing Bank of America's leading role in Chicago's foreclosure crisis.

National People's Action (NPA) is a Network of community power organizations from across the country that work to advance a national economic and racial justice agenda. NPA has over 200 organizers working to unite everyday people in cities, towns, and rural communities throughout the United States. For 38 years NPA has been a leader in the fight to hold banks accountable to the communities in which they serve and profit.

With 2.2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.

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