The Rev. Gloria Del Castillo listens while a small crowd rallied in front of Citibank in San Francisco this morning.
Citibank wants to sell Del Castillo's home out from under her on December 31. With the financial crisis, she had lost half her paid hours and couldn't afford her mortgage payments. She had been negotiating with the bank to refinance for months, submitting paper, re-submitting more paper when they lost some of it, making phone calls, etc. At the same time, without notifying this Episcopal priest, the bank had been completing legal foreclosure proceedings. Last week she found a notice on her door that her house would be sold next week. This underhanded behavior by a bank is called "dual-tracking."
On January 1, dual-tracking will be outlawed by the California Home Owners Bill of Rights. Rev. Gloria traveled to Sacramento last spring with other clergy leaders from the San Francisco Organizing Project to lobby for these protections. Citibank is out to get her before she enjoys the protections of the law she worked to pass.
Her friends, her congregation, and numerous faith leaders rallied to stop this. Instructions on how to call the bank here.
UPDATE: When Rev. Gloria carried a letter from protesters into the bank, Citibank employees said they'd be canceling the auction of her home set for December 31. Good news, but the bank has a lot to prove before we can be confident they are acting in good faith.
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