[Caution: Strong language warning]

You really have to watch the video to believe how this Denver woman's eviction from her home of 24 years was handled. Never in my life have I seen anything like this. Grenade launchers to evict a 63-year-old woman?!?

Last week, a highly militarized police force arrived at the home of 63-year-old Sahara Donahue to evict her from her residence of 24 years.

Donahue was petitioning US Bank for an additional 60 days to remain in her home, so she could have some time to find a new place to live, secure her belongings and leave her home with dignity. She came to the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition and an Occupy Denver General Assembly to ask for our help.

She knew no one in Occupy Denver prior to reaching out. We immediately started mobilizing to try to get her the assistance she needed and a group went to her house for the first rumored eviction on October 25. When that eviction didn’t happen, we planned an in-town action at US Bank, hoping to compel a bank official to ease Sahara's situation. Then we sent carpools up to her house in time for the rescheduled eviction, on October 30.

Occupiers laid barricades from fallen trees to prevent moving trucks and workers from entering Sahara's property and were able to stave off the eviction for a few hours. At 2:45 p.m., 10 or more truckloads of police in full combat gear armed with live-ammo AR-15s and grenade launchers arrived on the scene and forced occupiers to the ground at gunpoint.

Police then made their way to the house, broke down the front door, threw Donohue to the ground in her own kitchen and pointed their guns at the heads of a mother and son who were in the house with Sahara, among others. Police continued to break items in the house as they searched it. They unplugged the modem - the home's only form of communication as there was no cell phone coverage in the area - in order to stop the livestream.

The Occupy Denver legal team spent the next harrowing hour in a communication blackout wondering if they would be receiving calls from the hospital or the jail. Meanwhile, one brave foreclosure defense activist jumped into the bucket of the bulldozer that was going to tear through the barricades, forcing the operator to stop for several minutes. Three arrests were made, two activists were assaulted and all have been released.

Many people on the ground outside Donahue's home had experienced riot cop violence against Occupy demonstrators before, but all agreed that this was the most surreal and violent state repression they have witnessed. There has been overwhelming community support as other activists and concerned people watched the militarized drama unfold online. The big question everyone is asking: “Seriously, why are they in military gear?”

[Via]

Jacqueline Barber, 20 year Atlanta Police veteran and current cancer patient, is standing up against US Bank. US Bank is currently attempting to waive the stay granted by Jacqueline's bankruptcy and charge her for the associated legal fees. Help stop Jacqueline's eviction by signing this petition:

http://start2.occupyourhomes.org/petitions/us-bank-don-t-evict-cancer-patient-jaqueline-barber-keep-her-in-her-home-1

Via:

Less than a year after Occupy Atlanta members clashed with police in riot gear in a downtown park, they're now protesting alongside officers to help a retired detective avoid losing her home to foreclosure.

Activists joined current and retired Atlanta police Monday for a demonstration and discussion at the home of retired Atlanta police Det. Jaqueline Barber in Fayetteville, south of the city.

"The police are in the 99 percent and when it comes down to their economic struggles, we're going to be there to shine a light on those and organize around those," said Tim Franzen. He and others who were involved with Occupy Atlanta are now part of a group called Occupy Our Homes ATL, which focuses on the housing crisis.

There is a court hearing set for Thursday of this week for Jacqueline Barber, and it's feared that she will be homeless if she doesn't win this round with the bank.

I'll be updating as information becomes available.

Vietnam Veteran John Vinje and his wife spent Memorial Day wondering where they would possibly go if they lose their home in a foreclosure sale scheduled for Tuesday.

After falling behind on their mortgage payments when his wife became ill and was unable to work, the Minnesota couple tried to work with the bank, but US bank refused to accept partial payments on the Vinje's home that is now worth approximately $50,000 less than what they paid for it.

The foreclosure sale was already postponed once after the Vinje's got involved with Occupy Homes MN, and marched from Hennepin County Government Center to City Hall.

Via:

Eventually US Bank agreed to modify the loan, but the new terms offered lowered the monthly payment by only $97. Vinje said still left the payments out of reach for the couple. And those negotiations did not slow the foreclosure clock.

Vinje's case was cited during the 2012 legislative session by Democratic lawmakers who introduced several foreclosure reform bills. One measure would've outlawed "dual tracking," the practice of simultaneously foreclosing on a home while engaging in negotiations to modify the loan terms.

Republican leaders and committee chairs would not allow a hearing on any of the bills, because they believed they restricted commerce. So DFL sponsors conducted a mock hearing for the benefit of the media.

(Emphasis mine.)

Republicans wouldn't even allow a hearing on the foreclosure reforms, remember that the next time you hear someone wonder why the government won't help save them from greedy bankers. More importantly, remember that come November.

Sadly, Wall Street's financial giants have learned nothing from Occupy Wall Street. Once again they have reverted to old predatory ways and are seeking to reap profits from those who can least afford to be targeted to have a single hard-earned dollar milked out of their pockets.

Via:

“I may as well have gone to a payday lender,” said Mr. Wegner, a 36-year-old nursing assistant in Minneapolis, who ended up choosing a local branch of U.S. Bank and avoided the payday lenders, pawnshops and check cashers lining his neighborhood.

Along with a checking account, he selected a $1,000 short-term loan to help pay for his cystic fibrosis medications. The loan cost him $100 in fees, and that will escalate if it goes unpaid.

An increasing number of the nation’s large banks — U.S. Bank, Regions Financial and Wells Fargo among them — are aggressively courting low-income customers like Mr. Wegner with alternative products that can carry high fees. They are rapidly expanding these offerings partly because the products were largely untouched by recent financial regulations, and also to recoup the billions in lost income from recent limits on debit and credit card fees.
...
“It is a disquieting development for poor customers,” said Mark T. Williams, a former Federal Reserve Bank examiner. “They are getting pushed into high-fee options.”

That $1,000 short-term loan if paid on the due date will cost Mr. Wegner $1,100, or a typical $10 for every $100 borrowed. The loans are offered as an advance on direct-deposit paychecks. On the due date, the amount owed is automatically deducted from the borrowers account whether there's enough money to cover it or not, which can lead to overdraft and other fees tacked on to the balance "that translate into an annual interest rate of more than 300 percent, according to the Center for Responsible Lending."

And the banks are counting on consumers to miss their loan deadlines, that's where most of their profits will come from with most of these consumers with either lower incomes, or poor credit ratings. They've certainly created enough consumers with poor credit ratings through the foreclosure crisis.

Don't expect to escape these high debts you'll rack up by using their "services," *cough* because remember now the new bankrupcty law of 2005 -- that was pushed by the banks -- eliminating some exemptions, raising legal fees, requiring credit counseling at an additional cost, and moving many from Chapter 7 to Chapter 13 with a long road to repayment.

Prepaid cards are also a new lure for lenders as they are not restricted by Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, leaving banks free to charge high fees each time a customer swipes their card. Banks are already under fire for not clearly disclosing the fees associated with their prepaid cards.

Customers with a “convenient cash” prepaid card from U.S. Bank, for example, pay a $3 fee to enroll, a $3 monthly maintenance fee, $3 to visit a bank teller and $15 dollars to replace a lost card.

Feeling special yet?

Banks have no shame. None. May Day can't come too soon and it can't last too long.

I've written about some foreclosures fights in Minnesota in recent weeks, and this video is an update on the progress of those actions.

Filmmaker Peter Leeman's original subjects approached Occupy Minneapolis and asked for help with their struggle. Occupy Homes MN, a sub-section of Occupy Minneapolis that deals exclusively with protecting homeowners, took up the cause of these folk and organized a direct action.

In this video, dozens of people march to the house of U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis to demand justice for homeowners. Its inspiring to see this call for US Bank to help their own clients pay their mortgage and keep their houses. "We bailed them out with our tax dollars when they were in trouble at the start of the housing crisis they created," said Monique White, who was featured in "Monique's Story". "Now we need them to work with us to help stabilize our communities, instead of tearing them apart."

OccupyOurHomes is working with a Minneapolis family in an effort to try to save their home from foreclosure by USBank:

John Vinje and Lucinda Adams-Vinje bought their home in 2008 for 148,000. Their payment was roughly $1,300 per month on a 30 yr fixed term. It was the 1st home that either of them had ever purchased. John had been an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam war before working for many years as a security officer. Lucinda had a well established 10 year career as a TSA agent at the Minneapolis airport. Lucinda chose the home because she had grown up in the South Metro area and her work is nearby. She also happens to love the house. John says "I'm not sure why, she just loves it."

If they do nothing they will lose their home in April of 2012. This Air Force veteran and his wife have worked their entire adult life and now stand to lose the only home that either has ever owned.

What US Bank doesn't realize is that John and his wife are fighters. They, along with a growing number of Minnesota homeowners, have taken a pledge to stand with their community and fight for their home.

John had this to add: "Their refusal to work with us is an outrage. Do you know how much the C.E.O. of US Bank made last year? 18 million dollars! And yet they want my house that's only worth $80,000. Well you know what? I'm not gonna let them have it!"

If you would like to help this family save their home from foreclosure, there are a couple of things you can do:

Call U.S. Bank Sr. Vice President Tom Joyce TODAY: 612-303-3167. Tell U.S. Bank to postpone John Vinje's sheriff's sale and come to the table with a reasonable modification offer that will allow he and his family can stay in their home.

Or:

Sign this petition from Change.org.

If there's one way to unite the 99 percent, it’s direct actions aimed at the big banks. People are angry, and it's not hard to see why: Massive bailouts; exorbitant executive salaries; huge bonuses; dishonest and illegal lending practices; fee and rate hikes; all adding to American outrage. "Too Big to Fail" is a moniker that should be applied to the American people, not a financial institution whose collapse threatens the global economy.

One of the keys to the early momentum of the Occupy Movement was the outright anger people have for big banks. For example, the statistics surrounding November 5th Move Your Money Day are amazing. Credit Unions added over 650,000 new members with over $4.5 billion in deposits. There were hundreds of actions across the nation bringing people together to close accounts, and in many cases, close banks for the day. Individuals, small businesses, nonprofits, and more, all came together to fight back against the big banks, and their bottom line.

Direct action against the big banks is not new to the Occupy Movement. In the Bay Area, Occupy Oakland has shut down banks with massive marches roaming around the city shutting down every bank in sight. Occupy SF has marched on, and even occupied a Bank of America, tents and all! Marching on, and closing banks, happens all over the country. Occupy Wall Street has marched on Goldman Sachs on more than one occasion.

One action aimed at big banks happens weekly in San Jose, California. They call it Financial Friday. Members of Occupy San Jose, and the surrounding communities (recently, members of Occupy Oakland have joined in), rally together to shut down banks in downtown. Sometimes all it takes is one person to shut down a bank. The surrounding community “shows mad love," as one local protester shared on twitter, and why wouldn’t they? There's no love lost between the 99 percent, and massive financial institutions seemingly bent on the destruction of anyone in the path of their quarterly bottom line. People want to take action, and given the opportunity, they will.

Why not use Financial Fridays to unite this effort around the country? Sporadic actions held all over the country make much bigger waves when united together. A weekly national action can be used as outreach to educate people on the benefits of moving their money, and the terrible practices of their specific bank. But that’s not all, Financial Fridays can be organized around specific foreclosure defense actions. Occupy Oakland is currently helping homeowners in foreclosure with groups like ACCE, and Causa Justa (Just Cause). Just this week, Occupy Oakland shut down a local Union Bank in a community wide effort to save the home of 77 year old great grandmother Katie Mitchell. Mrs Katie, as she is known, has been trying to refinance for years while getting the financial runaround from JP Morgan Chase and Union Bank. The direct action forced the branch manager to meet with Mrs Katie and review her case. Helping families like Mrs Katie’s is one of the surest ways to unite communities and recapture momentum.

Continue reading »

Three Occupy Minneapolis protesters were arrested at US Bank's national headquarters as their request for US Bank to agree to meet with Monique White and Bobby Hull, two homeowners facing foreclosure, was denied.

About 50 protesters marched through the downtown skyways delivering 6500 petitions to US Bank from community members asking them negotiate to keep White and Hull in their homes. Protesters entered a US Bank headquarters and refused to leave until US Bank set up a meeting with the homeowners.

The three arrested were dressed as "OccuPirates," to draw attention to the unprecedented plundering of our communities and our nations wealth by the big banks and corporations.

Last week, US Bank announced record profits totaling over 4.8 billion dollars in 2011, as they continue to foreclose on more Minnesota families than ever while increasing fees to their customers.