Broadway Federal Bank has been serving Los Angeles’s African American community since the 1940s. But recent economic pressures have forced the small bank to foreclose on black church properties in an effort to stay afloat.
Now, the pastors of those churches are protesting the foreclosures. According to a statement from the Greater Open Door Church of God in Christ, a group of pastors will hold a Saturday press conference “about Broadway Federal Bank and Bank of America predatory lending practices. This time they picked the wrong churches. They have foreclosed on over 60 Churches.”
A recent report showed that the bank had over 12 percent of loans and other assets in delinquency or foreclosure–and seven currently repossessed churches. According to a 2011 report, Broadway Federal has “experienced elevated levels of loan delinquencies… during the period from 2010 to the present that have resulted in operating losses.” Those losses totaled $14 million in 2011.
CT has recently reported the significant rise in church foreclosures, and covered a lawsuit filed by one Las Vegas church after it stopped paying its mortgage.
CT has also reported how L.A’s black churches are adapting to their new Latino neighborhoods.
