Early in 2012, we were facing the next step in the legal process of foreclosure of the bank against us. In Connecticut, there is a legal requirement to offer mediation between bank and the homeowner. This came about after the subprime mortgage crisis began in 2007/8 where many people starting losing their homes to foreclosure.
The program offered us 3 mediation sessions. We had been through the first mediation session. A young attorney who was a state employee and part of this program was the mediator. But it really wasn’t a mediation about much of anything. It was literally, “can you give the bank your current financials and they will determine if there are any retention options for you.” Okay, but we are experiencing the same financial difficulty as before, meaning the numbers haven’t changed.
So they took our balance sheet (assets less debts – essentially was zero) and income (either p&l of the business which was negative or paychecks which there were none) and reran the numbers. Guess what? We didn’t qualify for anything because of our financial condition. Of course! That’s why were in foreclosure in the first place! The formula the bank ran was essentially a similar one to what they would run to decide to give a mortgage in the first place. What I am trying to say is this mediation program was a farce. It only helped people who could already help themselves. Doesn’t that defeat the whole idea of trying to mediate a solution?
Because we were rebuilding our business and it was still in the red, there was no way for us to service the mortgage currently. We needed some principal forgiveness, some payment abatement, some fee and interest reduction, some future balloon payment. Some creativity. Some flexibility. Some trust in us as people to work it out. But no. That’s not how the banking system works.
See the banking system is fractional. Depositors money (regulated by the FDIC) is lent out to others (in the form of a mortgage for one type of loan) instead of kept for safekeeping in the bank vault. In this way, the money supply is increased roughly ten fold. As a result, the bank is only allowed to make loans that will be profitable by the numbers. Throughout the life of the loan. No exceptions. Regulators require it. If Banks don’t comply, they get shut down and taken over by the FDIC. This is part of what happened to our mortgage company Washington Mutual.
Essentially what this means is the only people allowed to borrow are those who are financially strong enough to payback with a hefty bonus of interest, which over the life of a 30 year loan can be double that which you borrow, and meticulously pay interest every month for 3600 months. Not one miss. So, there is no room for financial hardship for 30 years. No room for job loss, health issues, family troubles or any other financial difficulties. The only answer to any of these financial difficulties is foreclosure – we take you home away.
Ironically, Washington Mutual was an Investment Banking client of mine back at Morgan Stanley. One particular deal I personally worked on was advising WAMU’s CEO Kerry Killinger was the acquisition of Fleet Mortgage in 2001. American Banker went on to name Killinger 2001 Banker of the Year. I had helped build the very monster that was now trying to eat our family’s home!
This whole mortgage saga helped me understand why God’s instruction to his people is different than capitalism’s mortgage covenants
If your countryman becomes poor and is unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you.
Leviticus 25:35-36
We certainly could have used this wisdom and kindness from our bank, but the systems of this world do not have such compassion on people because they are not of the Kingdom of God, but rather the Kingdom of Babylon
I [Harlot Babylon] sit enthroned as queen… I will never mourn
Revelation 18:7
Mortgages are sold at bank branches and through mortgage brokers. You can even have a relationship with your banker for the “sale”, but after that your mortgage goes to a “servicer” (the place you make your mortgage payments to) and no one has relationship anymore from there. If you have a problem, you call customer service. If you have a financial difficulty, no one you can hail on the phone is authorized to help you sort it out. Mortgages have become completely depersonalized. Today, even the “sales” function is purely online without human interaction. Punch a few buttons on your computer and Intuit’s Rocket Mortgage can get you a mortgage instantly. Well, if you have the right credit score. And the financial backing to assure a constant stream of payments. Essentially, if the system thinks you will make an excellent slave, you can sign up to the debt!
On February 23, 2012 I had another remarkable dream. In this dream, the clear crystal face of my Omega watch had fallen off along with some screws. And I kept trying to find the crystal and put it back on again, but could not. The watch worked but it was vulnerable to damage. When I woke up I distinctly heard the phrase
Technical and Miraculous.
Peaceful and Spontaneous.
The phrasing was like stanzas in a poem. It was distinctive in that I couldn’t have made it up. Had the fingerprints of God on it like that Jan 2, 2007 word about the Japanese markets. I pondered this dream. This word. I was encouraged by the phrasing, especially the miraculous and peaceful part.
Regarding the watch dream, it came to me that day the play-on-words the dream contained. Omega means end in Greek as it is the last letter of the alphabet. Alpha and Omega is one of the names of God – he is the beginning and the end. He transcends time. And obviously the watch is a time piece. Hence I recognized it was a word play on biblical “End-Times”. Like we were going through this housing crisis because prophetically it relates somehow to God’s end-times plans and purposes. We were forerunning the end-times somehow was my sense. I also got the connect of the watch face coming off and not being able to be put back was liken to “you can’t get more time” and “now is the time”, “end of time”, or “out of time.”
So that very morning I was off to the Stamford court house for our second mediation session. I was fairly relaxed about it because I thought by law we would have a minimum of three mediation sessions. The bank came back and said they had run the numbers but we didn’t qualify for any loan modification or retention options. The mediator accepted the report and asked me if I had any questions. I protested that can’t be the only discussion we are going to have can it? Of course we don’t qualify by the numbers, that why we are hear in the first place. The mediator then declared to my shock that he didn’t believe there was any further need for mediation and he was going to report to the judge no further mediation required. I said, but the law says we get three sessions, this is only the second? The mediator responded he was sorry, but if it was at his discretion to terminate mediation early. I was shocked. How could this be? I thought we had more time? He said, well if you want you can petition the judge for more time through filling out this form and submitting it to the court. Good luck.
Good luck. This has become a standard phrase I seem to get over and over again through out this sixteen year foreclosure / eviction process. By judges, by mediators, by state Marshalls. Like somehow the only option we have left is to get lucky somehow. But God! Its not luck we need, but a miracle of God.
I came home to Bridgette that day with the bad news. We were out of mediation now and back in the foreclosure lawsuit process. She said, I thought you said we have one more mediation session to go. I said, that’s what I thought too, but was told no. The mediator did say we could petition the judge for more time. She immediately responded, good lets do that. Then I said, you remember that dream I had this morning? Yes. Well, on the way home I think the Holy Spirit was showing me not to ask the judge for more time, based on that dream. She didn’t understand. She started crying. It was another very difficult moment for both of us. I was wrestling with it all day. So I said to her
Let’s trust God. And if you can’t trust God, trust me because I’m trusting God.
We go through that moment, but can’t say it was much fun. It did however, bring us closer to each other and closer to God.