Labor Day 2010: “I’m committed to holding Wall Street accountable for the economy they crashed, the budget crisis they caused, and lives they’ve ruined. Including mine.”
by Administrator
I was living the American Dream. Now I’m living a nightmare that never seems to end.
I’m a single mom and have worked for the state of California for 32 years. All my life, I’ve been self sufficient and careful to live within my means.
Then the California budget crisis hit and public employees had to take a 14 percent pay cut to help fill the budget gap. We worked hard before the crisis. And we continue to work hard to keep our state running. But now we’re doing it with fewer staff and higher workloads.
I bought my home in Sacramento 21 years ago and never missed a payment before last year. But I couldn’t afford my mortgage payments because I was making 14 percent less. I had to choose between paying my mortgage and feeding my daughter.
I fell behind in my mortgage last summer and my home entered foreclosure. Doing everything I could to save my family’s home, I negotiated a mortgage modification with Wilshire, the lender. But then Wilshire sold the mortgage to Bank of America and I was told I had to start the process all over again.
Instead of renegotiating, Bank of America raised my mortgage payment by $200. This is the same Bank of America whose reckless actions helped to crash our economy and cause the budget crisis that put me in this situation in the first place. Now the bank is threatening to put me and my daughter on the street. I’m not alone. Many of my co-workers have already lost their homes because of the pay cuts and are sleeping their cars.
The most important step I’ve taken to save my home hasn’t been working with Bank of America–it’s been confronting them head on. The bank was silent for months and months about my modification until I joined dozens of clergy, community members, and other Americans facing foreclosure as a part of a vigil in front of Bank of America’s New York City Tower. Two days later, I received a package in the mail to start the modification process again and the bank postponed the sale date of my house.
The only way we can end this foreclosure crisis is for ordinary Americans to stand up to big banks and pressure them to give us a fair shake.
This Labor Day, I’m committed to holding Bank of America and the rest of the Wall Street firms accountable for the economy they crashed, the budget crisis they caused, and lives they’ve ruined. Including mine.
Check out more SEIU members’ stories and vision for our country this Labor Day here: http://seiu.me/laborday.
Labor Day 2010: “I’m committed to holding Wall Street accountable for the economy they crashed, the budget crisis they caused, and lives they’ve ruined. Including mine.”
originally appeared on
SEIU.org
on Thursday, Sep 2, 2010.
Posted:
September 2nd, 2010 |
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