Banks foreclosing on churches in record numbers

With bank forecloses running rampid these days, we usually relate to people and their homes.

But it seems the banks are targeting churches as well.

Many refinanced at 2005 valuations and got stuck in the 2008 meltdown.

Hundreds of churches have been sold off as a result.

Some even have historical backgrounds going back to the 1800's !!

Hell hath no fury.

(Reuters) - Banks are foreclosing on America's churches in record numbers as lenders increasingly lose patience with religious facilities that have defaulted on their mortgages, according to new data.

The surge in church foreclosures represents a new wave of distressed property seizures triggered by the 2008 financial crash, analysts say, with many banks no longer willing to grant struggling religious organizations forbearance.

Since 2010, 270 churches have been sold after defaulting on their loans, with 90 percent of those sales coming after a lender-triggered foreclosure, according to the real estate information company CoStar Group.

In 2011, 138 churches were sold by banks, an annual record, with no sign that these religious foreclosures are abating, according to CoStar. That compares to just 24 sales in 2008 and only a handful in the decade before.

Flat Rock Church in Lithonia, Georgia, which dates back to 1860, took out an $850,000 balloon loan with Sun Trust Bank in 2005 to fund a new 300-seat church.

In May 2010 the loan became due. The bank foreclosed and the church is due to be auctioned off next month.

"The bank has refused to negotiate and to this day I just don't know why," said Binita Miles, the church pastor.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace ?

The bank doesn't want to negotiate with you. It is like an unemotional computer that calculates its potential profits.

They make more if you pay payments to them for years, then foreclose, then they sell the property. So they get your years worth of payments and cash from the short sale.


I don't feel a church has anymore special value than any other property though. If anything, a house is worse because someone actually lives in it.

Why did those churches try and live well beyond their means?
If they took an $850,000 loan out, not knowing if they could afford it....it should be foreclosed on!

I don't see the difference between regular "joe's" and churches.
If you can't afford the house/church you have, why take another loan out on it?

To me, they fell for the same rhetoric as everyone else and that is their fault.





I just don't understand people these days.
Everyone wants bigger and better, but can't afford it.

I can see sometthing a hellova lot more sinister involved here.......
Its part of the NWO one world religion ploy......
These criminals work through the banks because they OWN THEM!
The idea is to get rid of as many as possible to augment the social chaos they plan for america......where is one of the most unifying forces for the benefit of humans when they are faced with a survival scenari?
The local chrch!
These edifices would be a rallying point, and perhaps centers of resistance or places of refuge which would be created by people who coperate because hey have similar beliefs.
These must be eradicated as much as possible to facilitate the takeover of the US.

I loved going to church regularly the first twenty five years of my life. Now we all have so many bills and responsiblities we give to the people around us in our lives. People pay their own mortgages rather than tiething.
It is a sad twist of fate, churches closing when everyone needs positive church influence now more than ever. There just is no money for food buffets, flowers, programs, bible school etc.Those large buildings have large heating and air conditioning bills. Along with electric, water, sewer and property taxes. I am surprised the churches aren't taking in the homeless tent community individuals and those who were forclosed out of their homes in the last 4 years.

Another thing I noticed last week, was how many dented cars are driving around these days. We are turning into Mexico. People probably take the accident reimbursement checks and pay off house payments instead of fixing their dents... Seriously.

Originally posted by frugal
People probably take the accident reimbursement checks and pay off house payments instead of fixing their dents... Seriously.

Good. Maybe people are finally coming to realize what really matters instead of focusing on what makes them look good. As long as a vehicle runs, what it looks like doesn't matter.

As for the article, the churches aren't getting a bit of sympathy from me. Especially that one. I get so sick of seeing churches taking money to build fancy mega churches instead of helping their community with that money.

Any church with any sense holds fund raisers to get money to build new buildings, not take out a loan they couldn't afford.

I live in Ga I have to say that a historical church will never be destroyed here in my neck of the woods, the church may have gone from private hands into state hands to be protected by tax payers now.

I think that the one that took the loan may very well have runs away with the funds, as churches here in Ga are big business.

Everywhere you go is nothing but mega churches and I know how much it cost to run them.

They are not out of business by any mean, with luck the historical church in question will just now be under the protection of GA tax payers like me.

churches doing deals with the money changers
ummmm
thats luciferian money changers to those who have been following the story back....

is it just me...?

Jesus didn't have a church, and he did pretty well....

I always found it hilarious, that in small towns in the South (don't know about the North), they won't have a grocery store, but they will have five churches! I think sometimes there is competition among churches, each trying to out-do the other with bigger, fancier buildings. Of course, no one is worse than the Catholics, with their huge cathedrals. I always wondered what Jesus would have thought about all the money spent on church buildings...

Originally posted by Danbones
churches doing deals with the money changers
ummmm
thats luciferian money changers to those who have been following the story back....

is it just me...?

The irony is killing me (too).
I think that the other problem with churches is falling attendence, in my city churches are being used for non-worship purposes, like dinner theatres or whatever.

The worshippers are dying off.

When I look at a church in the winter time, and I think of my own heating bill (if I burn oil), I think, God! It must cost a fortune to heat that place!

Why should churches be given special treatment when it comes to failing on a bank loan? If I fail to repay the loan on my house, I lose it, it's that simple.
To me, the sad fact of this story is that it's every member of the congregation that has lost his/her money, they're the ones who pay for the building.