By: Allison Herrera, UpTake Reporter 

Embattled North Minneapolis homeowner Monique White has won a long-sought loan modification from her original lender, US Bank. The improbably victory followed a nearly six-month long battle that the African-American single working mother fought with the help of the Occupy Homes movement, which crescendoed when she approached US Bank CEO Richard Davis at the bank’s annual shareholders meeting in April. This is the second major victory that Occupy Homes has notched in Minneapolis. Former Marine Bobby Hull also won the right to keep his home on the south side.

White will now pay approximately $200 less per month on her home. Last week, she received a phone call from US Bank Vice President Bill Parker informing her that the bank had found a sum that would work for White to keep her North Minneapolis home. “He said, ‘Will $616.36 work for you?’ And I said ‘yes’. I am just so happy.” Days after confronting CEO Davis and landing a promise that Vice President Parker would help her, White had a scheduled court date that was to determine her fate: eviction or loan modification. Now she has a new loan term that begins in July.

“US Bank set the bar really high for all the other banks who say they cannot re-negotiate loans to families facing foreclosure,” said Anthony Newby, an organizer with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change. “Occupy Homes has said all along that this is what we want: to figure out a way to keep families in their homes and communities.”