Photos by Jim West
On Sat. Sept. 12, 125 people gathered
to support Belva Davis
In her determination to resist eviction and stay in her home
in East English Village on Detroit's east side
Belva wants to pay her mortgage
A Florida bank is trying to evict her
Do we want a good neighbor thrown on the street,
a lovely home trashed by vandals?
What you can do
- Contact Ocwen President Ronald Faris
Phone: 561-682-8000. Fax: 561-682-8177. Email: rfaris@ocwen.com.
- Find out the latest on what's happening
Email to get a timely update on how Belva's doing in saving her home.
We can make a difference!
Back to Belva home page
Belva's story
Belva Davis takes great pride in her Detroit home -- she did a gorgeous job painting, sanding the floors and decorating. She fell behind on some mortgage payments when she lost her job, but now that she’s again working full-time, she wants to pay off her mortgage.
But the mortgage servicer in Palm Beach Florida, Ocwen Financial, refuses to modify her loan - - even after Ocwen pocketed $695 million from the Obama Administration on the promise that they would modify all such loans.
Do we need another vacant, foreclosed eyesore in a struggling city?
A Wall Street investment fund run by Wells Fargo rushed to foreclose on Belva’s home last December. Neighbors braved the snow and frigid weather to come out and show their support for Ms. Davis, as she began a long legal fight to keep her home. She’s been putting money in escrow each month.
Ms. Davis is willing to pay the inflated mortgage (more than twice what the bank told the IRS the home was worth) -- if only the bank will modify the terms, as required by the Home Affordable Modification Program. But Ocwen won’t budge. Belva is still in her home, but time is running out.
Support Belva’s fight to keep her home
Help stop banks from ruining our neighborhoods
We can make a difference!
Back to Belva home page
Facts about Ocwen and Wells Fargo
Across the country, people are getting fed up with companies that foreclose rather than negotiate.
“Billions of dollars the government is spending to help financially pressed homeowners
avert foreclosure are passing through – and enriching – companies accused of preying on
the people they’re supposed to help, an Associated Press investigation has found.”
-- Detroit Free Press, Aug. 23, 2009
Wells Fargo and Ocwen, which own and service Belva Davis’s mortgage, are key players in sabotaging the Obama Home Affordable Modification Program. It’s crazy– a foreclosed home plunges in value, especially in Detroit; but the servicing companies make money through delays and foreclosures – no matter what the cost to people and their neighborhoods.
|
Money pocketed from taxpayers |
Eligible loans actually modified |
Ocwen |
$695 million |
5% |
Wells Fargo Bank |
$2.8 billion |
6% |
In Belva Davis’ case, Wells Fargo sold the property to itself (as a trust fund) for $165,000 shortly after it foreclosed on Belva’s $140,000 mortgage. Yet it admitted to the IRS that the property is now worth no more than $75,000. Belva is willing to pay off a mortgage with the higher amount – so long as payments are kept to 31% of her gross income, as called for under the Home Affordable Modification Program that both Ocwen and Wells Fargo were paid to administer. So far Ocwen has dodged its responsibility with a technicality -- claiming that Ms. Davis is “out of the redemption period.”
“I don’t think they’re motivated to do modifications at all. They keep hitting the loan all the way through for junk fees. It’s a license to do whatever they want.”
-- Margery Golant, a Florida lawyer who used to work for Ocwen Financial,
quoted in New York Times, July 29. 2009
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“Banks are trumpeting their new-found profitability and racing to return bailout money
to the Treasury. They’ve been able to do so in part by pretending that their loan
portfolios, across the board, are healthier than they actually are. . .
“Daniel Alpert, the managing partner of Westwood Capital, calls this practice ‘extend
and pretend’. . .
“Apparently, the only incentive left [to modify mortgages] is a good swift kick in the rear.”
-- Joe Nocera, New York Times, July 10, 2009
Back to Belva home page