Helen Bailey Will Stay in Her Home

How We Won

Feb 13, 2012

Occupy Nashville created this campaign calling on Chase Bank to stop the foreclosure on the home of a local 78-year-old grandmother, Helen Bailey. While moving forward with foreclosure on Ms. Bailey, who marched for civil rights, JP Morgan Chase also launched a new website and marketing campaign aligning itself with the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ms. Bailey won the support of prominent civil rights leaders including Cornel West who said: "I strongly support my dear sister Helen Bailey. Her struggle for justice is legendary. I stand with her."

After receiving attention from media outlets like MSNBC, the Huffington Post, Business Insider, the Associated Press and The Tennessean, Chase Bank announced that it would postpone Ms. Bailey's foreclosure. After negotiations with Ms. Bailey's lawyer, Ms. Bailey and Chase Bank reached an agreement that will allow her to stay in her home until she dies.

Ms. Bailey said: “I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I love my home and my community and I am so blessed to be able to stay here. I am thankful for the support of my neighbors and the nation." Occupy Nashville said that they thank Change.org for "providing a platform to make social change possible."

WHILE Chase misappropriates the memory and image of Martin Luther King this Black History Month, the bank is still going forward with its plans to foreclose on Helen Bailey on Feb. 15.

Helen Bailey is a 78-year-old grandmother who participated in the civil rights movement, worked as a childcare provider for autistic children, and was a community volunteer. She has paid her mortgage since 1999, but now she can't keep up the payments. All she wants is to stay in her home until she dies, in the neighborhood where she feels safe and has lived for nearly quarter of a century. She could have refinanced with a company willing to let her live in the house for free until her death, but Chase Bank would not reduce her principal by $9,000. She's been paying 7% interest, well above most rates, so Chase could have decided they had made enough. Instead, they have started foreclosure and Ms Bailey could end on the street. 

Since then, Ms Bailey's lawyer has found an alternate buyer for her home. This sale would provide Ms Bailey with an exit from her current mortgage and allow her to pursue other options for housing. We request that Chase:

· accept the offer of $85,000
· write off any deficiency between the loan balance and the offer
· waive all interest, legal fees and penalties accrued since the initial refinance offer
· cancel any foreclosure auction scheduled

It has been estimated that at foreclosure, Chase may lose over $30,000 compared to this settlement offer. Therefore this option makes the most sense financially for Chase and given Ms Bailey's specific circumstances, there is little moral hazard in this solution.

Tell Chase that in Nashville, in America, we don’t throw elderly ladies out on the street. In Nashville, in America, we fight for what’s right. Helen Bailey marched for civil rights. It's our turn to march for Helen Bailey.

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To mark Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, Chase gave us all a new website saying that the company gives back to communities. 

On the website, Chase says, "The values exhibited by Dr. King and embodied in his lifelong struggle for social change align with those that shape JPMorgan Chase's approach to giving in the communities in which it operates."

But King's legacy is not for Chase to use to cover up their own special brand of callousness.

While Chase tries to tie itself to the incredible legacy of Martin Luther King, who really did believe in communities, Chase tries to throw a grandmother who marched for civil rights out onto the street.

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