September-October 2005

ESOP close to agreement with lender

ESOP leaders, with a school of little loan sharks on the floor, talk about problems with Ameriquest-Argent loans in the Greater Cleveland area during public meeting. Ameriquest exec James Anderson skipped the meeting, but asked for a chance to talk after a phone blitz and rumors a visit from ESOP was coming. Negotiations followed and an agreement is pending.

CLEVELAND – East Side Organizing Project negotiations with sub prime lender Ameriquest have been moving forward. With a memorandum of understanding already in hand and with Ameriquest fixing problem loans, ESOP is looking forward to a signed agreement with the company later this year.

Mark Seifert, ESOP executive director, said there have been three negotiation meetings with James Anderson, vice president for governmental and community affairs for Ameriquest. Though progress has been made, things didn’t start off on good footing.

After agreeing to a July meeting with ESOP to discuss homeownership preservation in Greater Cleveland, Anderson canceled. ESOP pressed him to make good on a meeting he committed to in a letter. A barrage of phone calls and faxes, and talk of visit from ESOP brought Anderson back to the table. Inez Killingsworth, ESOP president and NPA co-chair, talked to Anderson about a memorandum of understanding as a sign that Ameriquest was serious about an agreement.

Both sides signed the memorandum July 22.

ESOP had reached out to the company after receiving numerous calls from families facing foreclosure. After having no presence in the Cleveland market in 2002, Ameriquest-Argent was number one in 2003 with 1,625 sub-prime loans, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. A year later, Ameriquest-Argent had 679 foreclosures filed in the Greater Cleveland area.

ESOP’s experience has shown that rapid foreclosures are a hallmark of predatory lending that leads to vacant homes and community decline. In an article published in the Cleveland Scene, borrowers talked about problems that were encountered with loans from Ameriquest, which  does most of its business in Cleveland through Argent, a mortgage broker. Cleveland has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country and Cleveland Scene, an alternative publication, called Ameriquest the biggest predatory lender in the city. The article also highlighted problems with mortgage brokers.