Article published November 25, 2009
Toledo woman says Jackson helped her retain house
Minister asks banks to cap interest at 4%
By TOM TROY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
One day after the Rev. Jesse Jackson intervened on her behalf, Toledoan Kim Bowers is no longer in foreclosure on her West Toledo home and her monthly payments have been slashed to a level she can afford.
Mr. Jackson and Ms. Bowers notified The Blade of her new situation yesterday, with Mr. Jackson saying it would be the start of a campaign to get the U.S. banking industry to rewrite 30-year mortgages across the board and cap interest rates at 3 or 4 percent.
Ms. Bowers, 36, of Latonia Boulevard, on Monday became the face of Mr. Jackson's new campaign when the legendary civil rights leader came to Toledo to promote what he is calling the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Save Our Homes Save Our Jobs Restructure Student Loans Crusade.
"This is the beginning of a process. When people come together as a community we can begin to address these things in some meaningful way and get relief for people," Mr. Jackson said from the Chicago headquarters of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, of which he is president, in addition to being a Baptist minister.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson sits in Kim Bowers’ living room Monday, where he prayed about her finances. Her Latonia Boulevard home was in foreclosure then. The mortgage has since been renegotiated.
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THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER
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Ms. Bowers said she has been bowled over by the change in her situation since his intervention.
"HSBC Beneficial finally tried to work with me upon Rev. Jackson calling them personally," she said. "They've agreed to not take my home and that's the bottom line."She also said the NAACP is providing a lawyer to represent her.
She said the bank reduced her payment to "a couple hundred a week" until January when it will become $1,004, with an interest rate for two years at 5 percent, Ms. Bowers said.
An out-of-work salesman, Ms. Bowers tried to access HSBC's hardship policy in October, 2008, when she had medical problems, she said. Her refinanced loan had already grown to $1,578 a month, and after she lost her job and fell behind in payments, they went up to about $2,300 a month to include escrow payments, she said.
To stave off foreclosure and allow her to resume making payments, the bank was requesting a settlement of $5,800, she said.
She said she has applied for a job that she feels confident about.
She said HSBC Beneficial had previously rebuffed efforts by the nonprofit Northwest Ohio Development Agency that had been trying to intercede for her.
"I've sat in the offices of NODA and [Toledo Fair Housing Center] and authorized them to speak for me and these people have cussed them out, hung up on them, and told misinformation," Ms. Bowers said.
Mr. Jackson said he went over the heads of the local HSBC office to the Chicago headquarters to gain relief for Ms. Bowers, in whose home he prayed on Monday.
A spokesman for the bank was not immediately available last night. On Monday the bank defended its efforts to help struggling homeowners.
Kate Durham, vice president of public affairs for HSBC North America, said Monday that HSBC was temporarily placing on hold the foreclosure action on Ms. Bowers' home when it became aware of additional hardships.
In a follow-up e-mail Monday evening, Ms. Durham disputed claims that HSBC had been contacted by Northwest Ohio Development Agency on Ms. Bowers' behalf.
"HSBC works with a number of national and regional agencies who have praised our workout programs. Additionally, we have met with a number of customers face to face as part of multiple outreach events in the state of Ohio.
"HSBC is disappointed that the agency you mentioned has not contacted us directly with their concerns, and we plan to contact them to learn more about their questions about our programs," Ms. Durham said.
Kathy Broka, president and chief executive officer of Northwest Ohio Development Agency and the Toledo Fair Housing Center, said on Monday that "HSBC is one of the hardest to work with that we've encountered. Their workouts are not workouts." She could not be reached last night for comment.
Mr. Jackson said U.S. banks should renegotiate loans after the industry received billions in federal loans to prevent a financial collapse. HSBC was not one of the banks that received a bailout.
"They're making a fee off of free money. They're getting 0 percent interest money," Mr. Jackson said. "If the banks lowered the cap to 3 or 4 percent they could save thousands of homes at the same time."
"We intend to meet with them before the week is out to start a broader relationship," he said.
He said he plans to raise the issue Jan. 13-15 when the Rainbow/PUSH "Wall Street Project" meets in New York.
He likened the loan restructuring campaign to the civil rights crusade in which a single incident ultimately led to major change.
"From the back of the bus in Montgomery it took us nine years to change the structure of things," he said.
Rosa Parks, a black woman, sparked a boycott in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Ala. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolished discrimination in public facilities known as Jim Crow laws.
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