Posted on 05/16/2014 2:30:14 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
Benham Real Estate said late Friday that its property listings with SunTrust Banks had been restored – hours after the Concord-based realty company announced that the bank had pulled all of its property listings.
The Benham company gained attention last week after HGTV said it was pulling the plug on “Flip It Forward,” a new home improvement show featuring twins Jason and David Benham. The network’s announcement followed reports by a lobbying group that David Benham had led or participated in protests against homosexuality.
Benham Real Estate, which markets and manages homes that banks repossess, said SunTrust informed the bank Thursday that the listings were being pulled. The company said SunTrust is also pulling listings from some of the company’s franchises across the U.S.
Reached for comment, SunTrust said in a statement that it doesn’t “make choices on suppliers nor base business decisions on political factors, nor do we direct our third-party vendors to do so.”
Last year, SunTrust consolidated the management of some of its residential real estate assets with a third-party vendor that contracts with Benham, the bank said in its statement. The bank did not identify the vendor, or say whether the vendor had discontinued a relationship with the Benham company.
SunTrust “supports the rights of all Americans to fully exercise their freedoms granted under the Constitution, including those with respect to free speech and freedom of religion,” it said.
Later Friday, the Benham company said the listings had been restored by the vendor, which it did not identify. SunTrust spokesman Michael McCoy said in a statement: “As of this afternoon, this issue has been resolved.”
HGTV had said “Flip it Forward” would feature the Benhams transforming a fixer-upper “into their forever home – with a healthy dose of sibling rivalry between the brothers along the way.”
On May 7, HGTV tweeted: “HGTV has decided not to move forward with the Benham Brothers’ series.”
In a statement at the time of HGTV’s announcement, the Benhams said: “Our faith is the fundamental calling in our lives, and the centerpiece of who we are. As Christians we are called to love our fellow man. Anyone who suggests that we hate homosexuals or people of other faiths is either misinformed or lying.”
On Friday, Jason Benham said in a statement that if the brothers’ faith costs them their business, “then so be it.”
Link to earlier post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3156795/posts?q=1&;page=73#73
So the listings just removed themselves? It is literally none of my business, except that maybe I should write down that listings on SunTrust sometimes simply disappear very coincidentally with a lot of other things going wrong.
The VERY next question should be...
When is SunTrust publicly naming and then publicly firing the 3rd party vendor who did this? Seems like a fireable offense to me. (if true)
Two questions:
Can you “trust” Sun Trust”?
Is “HGTV” some type of disease like “HIV/AIDS”?
That’s the game they want you to play: demanding to know who really is at fault, putting up with lies and evasions and delays, never getting a straight answer, then eventually just shrugging your shoulders.
Screw that. It doesn’t matter if the “third party vendor” even exists, or just took it upon themselves to do it, or how many lies are being told or how many evasions are being offered. SunTrust was the one they were dealing with, so SunTrust is the one who now cannot be trusted.
I bet you anything that Sun Trust launders drug money, DNC donations from illegals and foreign donors.
Too bad they’re not national, they’ll soon be nicknamed “UnTrust”.
They must have heard from a lot of people. Especially after Rush brought it up on his show.
I had commented using their website & just got the canned email with the 3rd party story. I say publicly announce who the company was and cut ties with them!
Glad for these 2 young men.
SunTrust just missed on a major boycott from Christian customers.
Not necessarily—I don’t plan to do business with them.
Joel Morimanno of Benham Real Estate of SW Florida. "I believe SunTrust has requested a blanket reassignment of all Benham Brothers listings across the nation because of their Christian beliefs," Morimanno said in a statement to the DC."
"The success of my business is based on my performance", he said. "I work hard to maintain a preferred status with all my clients. It appears that SunTrust simply reassigned the listing based on other external factors."
In an email obtained by TheDC, Morimanno was told by SunTrust's third-party asset management company: "Unfortunately the seller (SunTrust) is asking for this property be re-assigned. This was the direct clients (SunTrust) request. I really appreciate all your efforts on this property . . .This one is out of our control. It is really nothing you did."
Whole lot of shakin' going on.
If I were a customer of SunTrust, I would be very concerned, and would likely move my account.
I apparently would have no recourse if an employee took a dislike to me because I am a Christian, and decided to mess with my account. I am a nobody. A low-profile Christian’s problems with a bank would not be mentioned on the Rush Limbaugh show. I could not generate interest on the internet, and I could not get strangers to call and email the bank on my behalf. That is what is it took for the bank to do the right thing for these young men.
I just couldn’t trust the bank to do the right thing on my behalf.
The time to think about these things is BEFORE you embarrass yourself and your company. This is too little too late, as far as I’m concerned. I can assure SunTrust they will never see a dime of MY vast financial empire!
Does anybody here really believe SunTrust??? I sure do not. If what they claim is really true, then the management seems rather incompetent, to say the least.
Frightening stuff. Al queerda literally wants you destroyed if you don’t support them.
Yep, have a different opinion than the liberal approved one, and not only do you get ruined financially, but they friggin salt the earth as well.
No "live and let live" when it comes to liberals.
Good GOD why do Christians just sit there and take this kind of crap?
I thought I was the only one outraged by SunTrust's screwing over the Benhams.
Guess not. Which is nice.
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