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UMPQUA BANK REJECTS $2 MILLION FROM BLACK OWNER SEEKING TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE -- BUT TAKES OFFER FROM WHITE MALE BUYER!
Nationwide -- After more than 10 years of reliable mortgage payments, Anne Kihagi, an African American landlord in San Francisco, says she is under attack by Umpqua Bank for allegedly missing a property tax payment and failing to promptly provide annual financial information. Any commercial lender would laugh at this assault, as most borrowers turn in financials much later than the deadline (two months after year's end) - which makes sense considering most small business owners file taxes late.
But when did a slight (if warranted) delay in paperwork immediately lead to the demand that your loan must be fully paid off? This kind of dramatic trajectory is incredibly atypical, hence why these types of issues are called "Optional Default." Only a bank with an ulterior motive would use this strategy - which is exactly the case with Umpqua.
After months of going back and forth - and even refusing to provide a payoff demand that Ms. Kihagi needed in order to pay the bank - she lost lenders who got tired of playing Umpqua's time games.
Each time Ms. Kihagi refused to play by their distorted rules, she says that Umpqua Bank would turn the screw again.
