SAN JOSE, Calif. – In the biggest gain associated with Bank Transfer Day, a local church, angry over the mortgage foreclosure practices at Bank of America, agreed to withdraw $3 million in funds from the banking giant and deposit them with a local community development credit union, Self-Help FCU.
According to Father Eduardo Samaniego, the Jesuit pastor at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the move is part of a grass roots, inter-faith community effort in the Bay Area to pressure banks to change their loan modification policies and do more to keep families in their homes.
The BofA withdrawal, “is in solidarity with those who have already suffered the loss of their homes and those who are in danger of losing their homes because of … practices that the banks have found to nickel and dime us to death,” said the pastor, known locally as “Father Eddie,” during a news conference announcing the switch of accounts from both the church and the parish school.
The new deposits make the three-year-old CDCU, created from a conglomeration of six troubled low-income credit unions in northern California, one of the biggest beneficiaries of Bank Transfer Day, which saw hundreds of thousands of consumers withdraw their funds from bank giants like BofA and deposit them with credit unions and community banks. Oakland-based Self-Help FCU is the sister credit union to Self-Help CU, which is based in Durham, N.C. and is also sponsored by the Center for Community Self-Help.
Father Eddie said his church is also withdrawing $1 million in deposits from Wells Fargo, which, along with BofA has come under fire from consumer groups over its foreclosure practices, especially among the church’s members.
Father Samaniego said he brought the issue to members of the parish’s financial committee last month, and together they decided to take a stand against large banks.
