Minneapolis, MN – Friends, neighbors and other supporters joined the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout at the home of Michel Kidd, April 9. Kidd has been fighting to keep his home for over a year. He has had enough of the mortgage servicer, Aurora Loan Services, stalling, changing terms, ‘forgetting’ about past agreements and items faxed and mailed several times and apparently refusing to negotiate in good faith.

Michael Kidd is an independent trucker. In 2004 he put down $45,000 cash and got a regular, fixed-rate mortgage. Because of the recession, his trucking business slowed. Last year, he tried to renegotiate the terms of his mortgage so his payments would be more affordable – with the expectation, based on the terms of the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), that the home’s current value to be taken into account.

In 2004, when Kidd bought the house, it was valued at $190,000. Now it is valued between $65,000 and $90,000. Aurora, in direct contradiction the federal HAMP program, is not offering to refinance the home at its ‘net present value.’

Mick Kelly, of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, puts it bluntly: “Michael Kidd is being robbed. Aurora is pressuring him into taking a bogus deal that only makes Aurora richer. They are basically turning his house into an ATM for the banks.”

Michael Kidd and many others who have lost homes on the north and south sides of Minneapolis are examples of the racial disparities in home foreclosures and remodifications. As an African American born and raised in North Minneapolis, Kidd says he could have moved away, but chose to stay and build his community. “I am not just speaking for me, but for thousands in my situation,” said Mr. Kidd. “There are empty homes all around this neighborhood. We don’t need any more.”

The Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout joins Michael Kidd in demanding that Aurora come to the table, follow the rules of the HAMP program and renegotiate the mortgage at the home’s current value.

“Give Mr. Kidd a deal he can afford,” says Linden Gawboy, of the Minnesota Coalition for a Peoples Bailout.

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