NPA continues to harpoon the sharks

Loan shark mortgage companies turn homeowners into the homeless. They drain every cent of value from homes by charging high interest rates and tacking on high-cost fees.

After intense research, education and organizing National People’s Action member organizations have worked hard to win anti-predatory lending city legislation and state regulations. They have won loan workout agreements with abusive lenders and developed rescue loan products to save borrowers from these predatory loans, staving off foreclosure and abandonment.

To celebrate these victories and to take on new challenges, NPA’s predatory lending team held an electrifying workshop.  Present were legislative aides from Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) office and sub prime mortgage lobbyist, Wright Andrews.  The demands included: 

• Any national legislation introduced on predatory lending must not gut local and state laws;
• It should cap points and fees at three.

Both congressional staff agreed to the demands.  Andrews, a key supporter and author of Rep. Bob Ney’s (R-OH) predatory loan bill, said “no.” Ney’s proposed federal legislation preempts all state and local laws and offers a weak definition of predatory lending. NPA promptly escorted Andrews to his car.

Later that day, NPA leaders paid a visit to Andrews’s home, demanding that he reconsider his refusal.  The group crowned Andrews “King of the Loan Sharks” and left a letter with a clear message that stated NPA will not tolerate bad loans in its communities.

The next day a team of NPA leaders met with the Federal Trade Commission to continue to build NPA’s relationship with the agency that began during the campaign to reform CitiFinancial’s lending practices.  The FTC agreed to hear complaints on Fairbanks, another company engaging in predatory lending practices and is interested in holding public hearings with NPA groups to weed out other bad lenders.

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