Lincoln, NE (1888PressRelease)
September 12, 2007 - In Buffalo County, Nebraska there has been a major impact on the economy by the Exchange Bank of Gibbon, located in Gibbon, Nebraska. There are 63 case files in relation to this bank of foreclosures, replevins, and double jeopardy since 2003 alone in Buffalo County. Numerous people have claimed bankruptcy to try and protect what they have worked for their whole lives. Not many have succeeded if any. Most of these farms are what you could call “blood dirt” which in meaning means they have been passed down from generation to generation.
My family is only one of these. We started banking at the Exchange Bank in 1998. We started out with the loan officer named Scott Hobson; he later became the president of the bank and was the only bank officer that we dealt with, like many others. We trusted this man as you would trust your husband or wife. Whenever we asked are we doing fine he would say oh yes, keep doing what you are doing. When in truth he was hurting all of us. We had a farming operation that has been passed down for six generations. We had about 600 acres that produced corn, soybeans and alfalfa. We also raised about 300 plus steers in a stocker feeder operation, ran a herd of bred heifers that were sold and a small herd of cow/calf pairs. We have worked not only to make the farm profitable but to make it so it was a secure operation. We never made any purchase without consulting Mr. Hobson first to see how it would impact our farming operation.
Our mistake was not an operational one; it was one of a matter of trust. Mr. Hobson used inflated our financial statement by adding, Janice Oliver’s, which is my grandmother. Kent Fletcher, my dad, protested this and Hobson said it’s not a big deal it will make you look better and left it at that. He is now federally indicted on falsifying financial statements on us. (See federal indictment)
The Exchange Bank did not try to work with us at all; so we filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy. We have tried to get an evidentiary hearing but were denied every time. We even went to court one time and took a witness about an insurance matter which the bank continued to harass us on. They were stating they needed to be named as loss payee and that mortgagee was not sufficient so they considered our insurance void. We were previously at an insurance agency which is next door to the bank. When we had insurance there they were named MORTAGEE. They kept contacting our insurance agency and finally our insurance agency changed the policy to say Loss Payee to suit them.
Most people that this has happened to have been denied seeing their banking records and are not able to get a copy of them at all. Under law anyone who banks at a bank is entitled to see their records and obtain copies of them for their own personal records.
The bank had started the foreclosure process on us and before the sale we contacted them because we were able to obtain refinancing and needed a couple more days to close with the new company. We contacted the bank on Tuesday and they stated what we owed. When we sent the letter of intent from our lender, they raised the amount that they said was owed by a substantial amount on that Friday, and the sale was Monday.
The sale was an unjust sale due to the fact that the bank bought all the ground except for two parcels which were bought by other parties. Parties were bidding on the ground but were outbid by the bank each time. They also sold my Grandmothers life estate just because she had made out her will and said that my mother was to get it after her passing. After the sale they then proceeded to sue my grandmother for unpaid taxes and are trying to take her life estate away from her while she is still living. She had no part in our financial dealings with the Exchange Bank, besides making out a living trust.
There are civil matters over forgery, fraud, wrongful notarization, making false financial statements, usuary and misapplications of funds.
We would truly like you to hear our story and hope that this information will peak your interested to publish our story and information to other consumers to be aware of what can happen to you and your family.
Our Attorney is Mr. Robert M. Cook from Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Cook has had thirty-three years of active practice experience in agricultural law, business and commercial law, trial practice, family law, bankruptcy, labor law, criminal law, immigration, international law, law and economics, property law, tax law, and livestock genetics, range land management and preservation, water law, genetically “enhanced” organisms, GPS farming, herbicide/ insecticide/organic/ and effective but environmentally secure farming techniques, and Indian law, with specific reference to inverse condemnation, water law, agricultural land use, gaming issues, acquisition and preservation of tribal lands, allotted and trust.
To Contact Mr. Cook-
The Law Offices of Robert M. Cook
1430 E. Missouri, Suite 150
Phoenix, AZ 85014
1-866-539-0959
1-602-285-0288
1-602-285-0388 fax
Thank you,
Kent, Jody and Sarah Fletcher
###
