The internet is abuzz with stories about Terry Hoskins, the man who bulldozed his house to prevent his bank from seizing it in foreclosure. People are cheering him, calling him a hero, and telling him “Way to stick it to the banks!”
There are several basic points, however, that most of these articles, and, it seems, most of the readers, are missing.
He claims that the bank was going to foreclose on $160,000 worth of mortgage, on a $350,000 house, that he was current on. Last I checked, though, banks can’t just do that. Passing mention of his business debt is made, but no mention of several relevant details; the loan on the two properties (commercial and residential) appears to be cross-collateralized. Total amount he owes the bank = 1.1 million.
No mention is made of the fact that he is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and while the IRS is mentioned as having contributed to the situation, I have also read that he is 6 or so years behind on both state and federal taxes.
No one seems to be taking into consideration that we’re not exactly dealing with Citigroup here, either. I looked up his bank, and it’s a small community bank with fewer branches (5) than my little credit union. Sticking it to the guys who might be the ones to help you out and treat you like a person when the big banks won’t, isn’t exactly my idea of “Getting back at THE MAN,” if you know what I mean.
There are also no details available about the lawsuit referenced with his brother - it’s possible that the lawsuit was totally bogus, but there’s also the possibility that he royally screwed his brother over and deserved to lose it…but none of us really know the details.
Finally, while he’s portraying himself as “the little guy who wouldn’t take it anymore from the banks,” he’s, well, not the average guy affected by this mortgage crisis. You know, the guy who lost his job, got behind on his mortgage, and found his bank refused to work with him.
From published reports, he claims to have spent millions on legal fees over the past decade or so. Kind of makes you wonder how much his total debt is, doesn’t it, if spending millions of dollars to fight it makes financial sense?
I’m not saying the guy was shady in his business dealings - I’ve never met him, do not have inside knowledge of his business affairs, other than what I’ve been able to dig up on the internet, nor have I ever done business with him personally. All I am saying is that until we know the WHOLE story - it’s way too soon to proclaim the guy a hero.
So far, the only media outlet that I have seen questioning the story is Reason - all the others seem to just be running with the story as he told it, because it’s the kind of story that generates outrage…and page views. How disappointing.
Big media fail on this one