Read

User menu

Search form

Senior and Disability Groups Protest Wells Fargo Evictions, Shutter Accounts

Senior and Disability Groups Protest Wells Fargo Evictions, Shutter Accounts
Thu, 12/20/2012 - by Christopher D. Cook
This article originally appeared on Fog City Journal

A fiery crowd of as many as 50 seniors and their supporters including green-clad, Doctor Seuss-styled grinches, rallied Tuesday afternoon in front of Wells Fargo Bank at the intersection of Market and Grant streets, calling on the national bank to halt its evictions of struggling homeowners and to change its foreclosure practices.

“Wells Fargo, I had a home but you took it back and sold it—you’re a grinch!” activists from the San Francisco Grey Panthers and Senior & Disability Action yelled under crisp clear winter skies. “I’m a kid who had a warm house to live in but you took that away from me—you’re a Grinch!”

An hour earlier, representatives from the two groups entered the bank and closed their Wells Fargo accounts to protest home foreclosures that have “disproportionately shuttered the homes of seniors, people with disabilities, and people of color,” the groups stated.

“Too many families have lost their homes due to predatory lending, dual tracking, and simple greed,” the groups said in a media release. Dual tracking involves the selling of a house even while the current homeowners are negotiating a new loan to try to keep their home. “Wells Fargo is at the center of the foreclosure crisis in San Francisco. They have more foreclosures in their name than any of the other banks.”

According to their research, Wells Fargo has held 92 auctions on foreclosed homes in San Francisco—more than double the combined total of JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America.

The groups demand “immediate action to stop the holiday foreclosures and evictions,” listing 27 San Francisco families who are at risk of eviction over the holidays.

“We’re encouraging all other organizations” to close their Wells Fargo Accounts, said James Chionsini, director of healthcare advocacy for Senior & Disability Action. “We can’t in good conscience support an organization that’s displacing our members, it’s just unethical.”

3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

ONE-TIME DONATION

Just use the simple form below to make a single direct donation.

DONATE NOW

MONTHLY DONATION

Be a sustaining sponsor. Give a reacurring monthly donation at any level.

GET SOME MERCH!

Now you can wear your support too! From T-Shirts to tote bags.

SHOP TODAY

Sign Up

Article Tabs

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.

To win the climate argument, advocates must show how Covid-19 bailout funds could be redirected – instead of making similar mistakes as the 2008 financial crisis.

The most analogous failure to the impending economic turbulence is the financial crisis of 2008, caused, primarily, by the deregulation of the financial industry.

#MeToo, India sexism, women's rights, sexual abuse

Activists are continuing the fight but are exhausted, balancing careers and a movement, that, to most, has become a personal battle.

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.

David Graeber at his home in Manhattan in in 2005. A public intellectual, professor, political activist and author, he captivated a cult following that grew globally with each book he published over the last decade.Credit...Jennifer S. Altman for NYT

He wrote about crushing debt, pointless jobs and the negative effects of globalization. And he played a leading role in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

To win the climate argument, advocates must show how Covid-19 bailout funds could be redirected – instead of making similar mistakes as the 2008 financial crisis.

The most analogous failure to the impending economic turbulence is the financial crisis of 2008, caused, primarily, by the deregulation of the financial industry.

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Posted 6 days 13 hours ago
Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.

David Graeber at his home in Manhattan in in 2005. A public intellectual, professor, political activist and author, he captivated a cult following that grew globally with each book he published over the last decade.Credit...Jennifer S. Altman for NYT

He wrote about crushing debt, pointless jobs and the negative effects of globalization. And he played a leading role in the Occupy Wall Street movement.