NEWSTHE GREAT RECESSION

With today's "Occupy Our Homes" kickoff, the Occupy movement has gone from inhabiting the most public of spaces to the most private. They're not taking over just any home, though -- organizers are defending homeowners around the country facing imminent foreclosure.

It's a natural next step for the young but increasingly influential movement. The effort has already been met with great media coverage, and will likely be critical in once again refocusing public conversation on the plight of the 99%. Besides that, there's little question Occupy Our Homes will be successful in saving some homes from foreclosure by exposing the unfair and deceptive banking practices that have driven many homeowners to that point.

But Occupy Our Homes isn't the only avenue for holding banks accountable to homeowners. Dozens of homeowners, their family, and their friends have started petitions on Change.org calling on their banks to treat them fairly and modify their mortgages to allow them to stay in their homes.

One of those homeowners is Monique White, whose story is told by Change.org member Nick Espinosa:

Monique worked for 11 years as youth counselor at a group home to help troubled teens transition back into their communities. In February 2010, the nonprofit shut down due to state budget cuts. Although Monique still has a part-time job at a liquor store where she has worked for the past 8 years, this has not been enough to afford her mortgage payment.

Monique has gone through the process of trying to get a loan modification writing a hardship letter and sending document after document to US Bank, yet they still refused to work with her and have foreclosed on her home.

'A house across the street from mine just sold for $9,500, and the bank would rather kick me out and let the house sit empty than renogotiate my $130,000 mortage. It makes absolutely no sense,' explained Monique.

Sadly, Monique's story is not unique. Lesliane Bouchard, a disabled California schoolteacher, is facing foreclosure by First Mortgage Corporation. Vicky Aase is trying to stop foreclosure on her Los Angeles-area home after being brought to the brink of foreclosure by Bank of America. Liz Wootan, who provides reasonably-priced rental units for middle-class tenants in New York, could lose her rental property. These homeowners have all stood up for themselves using Change.org, and our hope is that many other homeowners begin to use our platform as one more tool at their disposal in their fights to save their homes.

And it can work! Just ask Seattle-area mom Vera Johnson, who managed to stop Bank of America's efforts to foreclose on her home. Sometimes the victories are smaller, but still important. For instance, many homeowners complain that banks frequently lose documents and shuffle them between multiple representatives who often know nothing of the customer's earlier conversations. Through Change.org, numerous homeowners have won the decent treatment and single point of contact they deserve.

Change is possible, and Change.org's tools can make it a little bit easier to win. If you or someone you know is facing foreclosure, consider starting a campaign on Change.org today.

In less than one month, Bank of America went from announcing a new $5 monthly debit card fee, to reeling under huge pressure from the media, Congress, and Change.org members. Now, Chase and Wells Fargo - two of Bank of America's biggest consumer banking competitors - have promised not to levy debit card fees on customers, and Bank of America is suggesting they will 'soften' their fee.

It all started with one Change.org member, Molly Katchpole, who said enough was enough and started a campaign against Bank of America's $5 fee.

Friday night, ABC World News reported on the banking industry’s reaction to Molly’s campaign. Watch the video to learn how Molly and 300,000 Change.org petition signers made big banks listen up!

• View Molly's petition to Bank of America
• Share this campaign with others
• Start your own petition

Here's how it all happened:

September 29: Bank of America announces a new $5 monthly debit card fee.

September 30: Molly creates her petition on Change.org; more than 150,000 people sign in the next 5 days.

October 5: The petition becomes a major national story. ABC News interviews Molly, then tracks down Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan and forces him to respond to it.

October 6: Molly delivers 153,000 petitions to Bank of America and closes her account. She appears on ABC World News again to discuss the petition. Local media in Charlotte (where Bank of America is based) openly speculate that the growing controversy could lead to the firing of Moynihan.

October 9: Molly is featured in a major article in the New York Times as an example of the public’s frustration with big banks.

October 10: Bank of America executive Andrew Plepler calls Molly Katchpole to discuss her petition.

October 13: Molly meets with Congressman Brad Miller to discuss a bill in Congress to make it easier to switch banks. The two later appear on CNN together.

October 18: Molly’s petition reaches 225,000, as Bank of America reports a $6 billion profit. The outrage continues to grow.

October 26: Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says he’s ‘incensed’ over recent criticism of the bank fees

October 27: JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in America, and Wells Fargo announce they will stop testing $3 debit card fees and cancel any plans to charge customers to use their debit cards.

October 28: Bank of America begins a full-on retreat from the $5 debit card fee. An unnamed source at the bank says they will 'soften' the fee and allow more customers - including anyone with a direct deposit - to avoid the $5 fee. Molly appears on ABC World News for the fourth time to talk about her petition.

October 30: Molly's Change.org petition reaches 300,000 signatures, and customers continue to demand that Bank of America cancel the $5 fee for all of its customers.

UPDATE (1/11/2011)

November 1: VICTORY! Bank of America formally announces that it will not move forward with implementing the debit card fee, marking a victory for Molly and over 306,000 other customers who signed her petition.

On November 1st, Bank of America announced that it would not move forward with implementing the debit card fee. BofA co-chief operating officer David Darnell stated in a press release, “We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize concern with our proposed debit usage fee. Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.” The decision marks an incredible victory for Molly and over 306,000 other customers who signed her petition. Using Change.org, Molly was able to recruit hundreds of thousands of people across the country to join her in successfully challenging one of America’s most powerful financial institutions – and also influencing the behavior of other major banks.

Inspired? Then start your own petition, and make change happen.

• View Molly's petition to Bank of America
• Share this campaign with others
• Start your own petition

When Vera Johnson started her petition on Change.org this summer, she was at the end of her rope. For 18 months, Vera had been attempting to stop the foreclosure on her home and business of 32 years and secure a permanent loan modification with Bank of America. The obstacles were numerous and increasingly tiresome. A Seattle Times columnist reported that Vera had "faxed and FedExed documents once, twice, three times, had partial payments rejected and even watched a loan officer at her own Bank of America branch sit on hold for an hour and get nowhere."

In Vera’s own words, "We are in a system where we're all looked at as account numbers, profits, risks, losses—anything but people."

Vera took her fight to Change.org and quickly collected more than 15,000 signatures from Washington State residents. To build pressure on the bank, she delivered the signatures to a Bank of America executive and spoke to media outside BofA's Seattle offices. She even appeared on national television, drawing more people to support her cause.

This is what momentum looks like. Indeed.com - one of the largest job sites in the world - has decided to block ads that discriminate against the unemployed from appearing on its website. This follows a statement by President Obama on Tuesday that he supports federal legislation protecting the unemployed from being denied jobs simply because they are unemployed.

Kelly Wiedemer, an unemployed business analyst in Colorado, started the campaign after learning that employers were posting job ads on sites like Indeed.com, Monster.com and Careerbuilder excluding unemployed job-seekers from applying. Less than 15 days after Kelly launched her campaign, Indeed.com provided Change.org with the following statement:

“Indeed.com strives to provide the best job search experience for job seekers,”  said Sophie Beaurpere, the company’s Director of Communications.  “Our policy is to exclude job listings that do not comply with federal or local laws related to discriminatory hiring practices as well as job listings that discriminate against the unemployed.”

For Vera Johnson, fighting foreclosure isn't just about keeping her home. It's about keeping her job. Vera runs a thriving nursery business on her property in Seattle. Recently divorced and raising two kids, Vera needs this job to provide for her family.

Last week, Vera was scheduled to have, what she thought would be, a fairly productive meeting with Bank of America to discuss the final steps of her loan modification application. She also planned to deliver 10,000 Change.org signatures to Bank of America representatives.

Instead, Vera was met with some rather hostile and just plain over-the-top security measures.

U.S. soldier Aaron Collette was home from Iraq for just an hour, before he decided to shoot a video message with his Dad to Change.org users. Yes, it was that important to him.

In the video, Tim Collette thanked everyone who’s helped him stay in his home through September. He added, “Chase does not like you guys.”

Aaron Collette told supporters, “We love you guys a lot for what you’ve been doing.” Aaron continues,  “And I appreciate more than you guys will ever know [that you helped] my dad keep his house. This is my home. This is my place to come back to. My safe zone…Thank you.”

Members of the Economic Fairness Oregon (EFO) team are in Bend, Oregon right now, meeting with Tim Collette as he prepares for a big day with two very different events - an emotional reunion with his son, Aaron, who returns from Iraq tonight, and the public auction of his home by JPMorgan Chase at 3:30pm PT at the court house.

Saadia McConville from EFO writes, "We are all excited for Tim and Aaron's reunion, and also anxious to see what unfolds at the courthouse. Chase tried to force Tim to sign a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which would have cost him his home and taken away his opportunity for legal recourse. Tim refused to sign this paperwork as it went against what Chase had been promising him, and he now waits to see what Chase will do this afternoon."

Despite the pressure of the impending sale, Tim is elated that his son Aaron will be home later this evening. His room is clean, his bed is made and several members of his family will be arriving in the coming days to visit him during his leave.

U.S. soldier Aaron Collette was home from Iraq for just an hour, before he decided to shoot this video message with his dad to thank Change.org members for helping save their home from Chase bank while Aaron is on leave.

Millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, and many are choosing to fight back. What's happening in your workplace, school or community that matters to you? Your voice can make a difference, and you'll be surprised how easy it is to start your own campaign.

You can create change in your community, city, and country. Click here to start a petition.

Across the country, homeowners are battling with America’s banks for mortgage loan modifications. As of May of this year, less than 750,000 U.S. borrowers had received permanent loan modifications, far below the original goal of helping 3 - 4 million borrowers. The big banks – including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo – have come under harsh criticism for preventing millions of eligible homeowners from receiving loan modifications, resulting in unnecessary (and in some cases, illegal) home foreclosures.

Tim Collette is one homeowner who's fighting back. While his son serves in Iraq, Tim is fighting to stay in his home.

More than 120,000 people on Change.org have joined the Collettes in asking Chase bank to stop the foreclosure and find a permanent solution for the family.

Y­­ou would think, after being caught overcharging 4,000 service members and illegally foreclosing on 14 military families, JPMorgan Chase would be bending over backwards to repair its image with the military.

But apparently, Chase’s customer 'service' only goes so far for our men and women in uniform.

Twenty-year-old Aaron Collette of Oregon is currently serving in Iraq, while his father, Tim, is in a heated foreclosure battle with JPMorgan Chase.

Two years ago, Tim Collette asked Chase bank to modify his mortgage. The bank instructed Tim that, in order to qualify for a loan modification, he had to miss two payments. Once that happened, Chase initiated foreclosure proceedings. Tim has been immersed in a long battle of paperwork and phone calls with the bank ever since.

Tim Collette’s home was originally scheduled to be foreclosed on in June, but thanks to the advocacy of Economic Fairness Oregon, Change.org members and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chase publicly agreed to delay the foreclosure and “find a solution” for the Collette’s. As soon as the media attention died down, they rescheduled foreclosure proceedings for August. 9th – just 10 days before Aaron returns from Iraq.

But Change.org members aren't backing down. More than 83,000 people have signed on in support of Tim and his family. Tim was so touched by the support, he recorded a video message.