SALON

Tuesday, Apr 9, 2013 9:15 PM UTC

Bank stole your house? Have 10 pitchforks’ worth of compensation

Alexis Goldstein is listing items victims of wrongful foreclosure can afford with piddling OCC settlement sums SLIDE SHOW

By

Topics: slideshow, forclosure, occ, U.S. Government, U.S. Economy, Real estate, Finance, Poverty, ,

Bank stole your house? Have 10 pitchforks' worth of compensation (Credit: Shutterstock/Andy Dean Photography)

First as tragedy, then as farce. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced Tuesday details of how much money the banks will pay homeowners who were found to be wrongfully foreclosed on, or who suffered financial harm at the hands of the banks. Just as a sampling, individuals who had loan modifications approved by banks but were still foreclosed upon will receive a paltry $300. Six hundred seventy-nine people were faced with foreclosure even though they were never once in default; they will be compensated $5,000.

Former Wall Street V.P. and current Occupy Wall Street activist and member of Strike Debt Alexis Goldstein took it upon herself Tuesday to put the payouts in a little context. She created a site detailing “What You Can Buy for Having Your House Stolen,” on which she lists a varied taxonomy of items the compensation can afford wrongfully foreclosed individuals — all the items that are not your house back. Goldstein told Salon via email, “I’m hoping to (1) draw attention to the OCC, one of the lesser-known banking regulators who are completely captured by the banks. (2) point out how egregiously low these settlement numbers are.”

We thought we’d pick out some of Goldstein’s choice examples to drive the message home in the following slideshow. (All slideshow text from Goldstein’s forhavingmyhousestolen.tumblr.com)

Stuff you can buy with foreclosure payouts

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 8
  • "Yeah, sure, you are only getting $500 for being foreclosed on even though the bank approved your loan mod. Hey, you know, the banks mess up sometimes! And sure, the consultant who reviewed your file & your tale of heartbreak made $10,000. But think about it! With that $500 you can buy TEN PITCHFORKS and go visit the offices of Promonotory Financial Group (Where The Bank Regulators Go To Get Rich™)."

  • "If you were foreclosed on because of “dual-tracking,” where one part of the bank approved your loan mod, but the foreclosure department, uh, didn’t talk to them, the @USOCC is really sorry! They’re going to make the banks pay you $300! You can buy 300 boxes of Kleenex with that, to help dry all your tears! YOU’RE WELCOME!"

  • "Sure, you were wrongfully foreclosed on by a bank whose loan modification dept can’t comunicate with its foreclosure dept. But come on! With your OCC settlement of $300, you can buy like 2.3 months of storage in DC!"

  • "Yeah, you are not in default, and thus the foreclosure you are STILL IN is TOTALLY ILLEGAL! But come on, the OCC is gonna make the banks pay you $5000 for this foreclosure the bank is illegally conducting. $5000! DO YOU SEE THIS TENT YOU CAN BUY WITH $5000?!? WHO NEEDS A HOME WITH A TENT LIKE THIS?!"

  • "A homeowner who had a loan mod APPROVED, but was STILL FORECLOSED on gets $300-500. You may have lost your home, but don’t worry, you can still buy this nice dollhouse."

  • "Yes, maligned homeowner, one of the megabanks screwed you. You had a loan modification request APPROVED, and yet you were STILL foreclosed on... But don’t worry! The OCC has a solution! They’re gonna make the banks pay you between $300 and $500!"

  • Definitely not your house back.

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 8

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 5 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Would we give up burgers to stop climate change? New study suggests if we reduce our intake of animal products by 25%, we can halt climate change
547 points548 points | 206 comments
vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
231 points232 points | 21 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
140 points141 points | 54 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
45 points46 points | 16 comments
vote
Capitalism, not feminism, killed home cooking–and fixing our broken food system is gonna take a lot more than some privileged women embracing “new domesticity”
32 points33 points | 19 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations