• Lisa Simpson
• Jun 25,2010
• In: Foreclosure

Not All Banks are Hated by the Public

Not all the banks are hated by the public – there are many loved by the people. One such bank that was a favourite was Park National Bank in Maywood suburbs of Chicago, run by Michael E. Kelly. He used bank funds to buy foreclosed houses, repair them and sell them at cost price to save the locality and the people. But when the recession hit, his bank collapsed and was bought by US Bank, the fifth largest in the country based in Minneapolis.

The new bank opened old branches under a new name but the people are angry. They think this mega bank with faceless profile have little interest in the good of the community – their only task being making money. The public are angrier that tax payer’s money was used to bail out these mega banks while the much loved community banks were allowed to collapse. The anger continues to simmer.

David Pope the president of Oak Park Village referred to this as “the largest bank robbery in the history of the United States.” Inadvertently the US Bank, the new owner of the previous local bank is being subjected to all the ire of the local leaders and activists. They are demanding that this bank whose parent body had made profits amounting to $2.2 billion should take steps to prevent foreclosures and repeat the philanthropic measures taken by Kelly. The latter had given away 20% of its yearly profits to promote the causes of education and affordable accommodation.

At a recent public meeting on the west side of Chicago convened by Coalition to Save Community Banking, tempers flared up. From the beginning of the meeting that things would be uncomfortable for two representatives of the bank that had come to attend the gathering.

The bank officials were visibly perplexed by the spontaneous reaction and hurriedly added that they would honour all the commitments made by Park National Bank. But they did not fail to add that the charity giving level would decline to match the donations being made in other regions where US Bank had branches. The bank added that the complications of modern mortgage dealing did not allow them much legal rights to modify the local house mortgage loans that had not originated from it; its role was that of trustee. This had led them to get involved in public relation matters – something that they had never previously experienced.

Richard C. Hartnack the vice chairperson of the bank said, “We bought 400 branches in California, and it’s a much bigger place. That’s gone absolutely smoothly.”

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