Churches Facing Foreclosure

Posted on November 14th, 2008 by saman

It isn’t just homeowners that are currently struggling to make mortgage payments and keep their homes. Building owners, business owners, and even churches are appearing more and more often in local foreclosure court hearings. These courts are becoming overrun by foreclosure filings and it is not just the lower to middle class every day Americans being drug through the process anymore. More and more churches are being filed against on a regular basis.

In Arkansas, the First Marshallese Full Gospel Church is one of the churches recently facing a court filing that may lead to foreclosure on their property. The claim against the church was filed on Wednesday in the Washington County Circuit Court. It was filed by Noel Foster, who does business under the name Calvary Holiness Church. Foster claims in the suit that the Full Gospel Church has gone into default on their loan and now owes him $25,786 remaining in principal. He also claims $6,928 in interest is still owed, as well as a $40 late charge.

It is stated in the suit that Noel Foster has misplaced the promissory note but feels he should still be entitled to enforce it. First Marshallese Full Gospel Church is said to have taken out the loan back in 1998 for a total of $27,225 with a ten percent interest rate. What Foster seeks from the court is a first lien on the church’s property and the right to sell it and recoup the loaned money.

It may seem unthinkable to many people for a church to have to go through the foreclosure process, but when loans are taken out for church property they must be prepaid just like any other loan, otherwise foreclosure could be something the church faces. Nobody is immune from losing their property in our current economic crisis, whether it is an individual, business owner, or even concerning church property.

There has not been a known response to the claim from the First Marshallese Full Gospel Church in Arkansas, but the stress the head of the church feels is surely no different from that of every homeowner in Arkansas facing the exact same problems.

Other populations not normally considered obvious defendants against foreclosure are also going into the courts at alarming numbers. For example, the elderly are losing their foreclosed homes at a very high percentage. Many of them cannot afford to keep up with their mortgage payments as the prices of every other good and service rises, and most are not able to take extra jobs or find secondary sources of income to increase their chances of keeping their home.

Home foreclosure is no longer a problem for the lower classes. It is even reaching middle and upper class neighborhoods where it used to be nearly unheard of. Communities are changing as they become dotted with empty houses, and now even business and church buildings. These latest filings against churches prove that no one is safe in this economy.