Feb 232011
Don’t believe what you hear — contracts with banks do go both ways:
When Wells Fargo stopped responding to correspondence from Philadelphia homeowner Patrick Rogers, he read up on mortgage law and then used the bank’s own playbook against it.
Full text at GOOD.is, which links to a Consumerist article.
So if I read the Consumerist story correctly, this guy takes his bank to small claims court over their lack of response to his charges of misapplied fees and an inappropriate hike in his mortgage premiums. Wells Fargo blows him off and doesn’t show, netting him a $1000 summary judgment.
To get this money (and make the papers), he files a levy requiring the local sheriff to repossess the articles in the bank’s nearby branch office. The sheriff inventories the office and posts a notice that nothing can be removed pending “foreclosure” of the bank’s assets.
This finally gets the bank’s attention, and a “high-ranking official” bids to meet the guy–but not before his press release is picked up by USA Today, ABC, et al. And all because he researched how bankers foreclose on ordinary folks and used their tactics against them.
Best story so far of 2011!
http://tinyurl.com/4zs6oc8
This makes it all the more bizarre.
Judging from the comments on the video, everyone’s surprised that the straightlaced-looking Fox interviewer didn’t notice he was wearing vampire fangs during the interview. I can only say that the only time I was ever interviewed on national TV, all I was looking at was a blue screen, so I’m guessing that’s all the interviewer saw too.
To me, this is a perfect example of “new media” thinking, even though there isn’t a single computer or social network anywhere in the equation.
This Patrick Rodgers character seems to be good at wielding publicity–now he’s even got the Twilight crowd on his side!
Follow-up:
“Couple Forecloses on Bank of America — And Wins”
http://www.good.is/post/couple-forecloses-on-bank-of-america-wins