Bassman
07-30-2007, 08:17 AM
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/130062.html
Albany puts those in need on hold until next session
Promises to curb abuse by lenders and merchants stall as lawmakers go on hiatus
By Jonathan D. Epstein and Rod Watson NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
Updated: 07/30/07 6:22 AM
During the waning days of this year’s state legislative session, Albany’s leaders apparently have found a way to give themselves an eventual raise.
But when it comes to looking out for some of the poorest residents being gouged by abusive — and sometimes illegal — financial practices, the legislators will wind up the session by doing virtually nothing.
Bills that would have made significant changes in mortgage lending, the rent-toown industry and other areas were left on the table. So was any effort to crack down on illegal checkcashers.
“I guess I’m disappointed, because I don’t know what Albany has accomplished. The legislators aren’t really doing anything,” said Carol Brent, staff attorney at Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled and Disadvantaged of Western New York.
The inaction follows public hearings and public promises in the wake of The Buffalo News’ series “The High Cost of Being Poor” and “The Merchants of Debt” exposing financial practices that victimize the working poor. Several consumer protection bills were introduced in the Assembly, but few passed. And fewer still were approved in the Senate.
=snip=
Problems outlined in The News’ series include:
• Corner stores operating without a check-cashing license and illegally charging customers up to 10 percent — often $30, $40 or more — to cash tax refund, payroll and other checks. State law limits such fees to 99 cents.
• Rent-to-own stores that market to those who can’t get credit while taking advantage of a loophole in state law letting them charge two or three times what a stove or washer is worth.
• Predatory lenders who target those with poor credit, writing mortgages they know the homeowner cannot repay, practically guaranteeing a foreclosure.
• Insurers who charge more to drivers in poor neighborhoods, regardless of driving record or claims history.
• “Instant refund” tax services that gouge desperate consumers with annual interest rates of up to 180 percent on refund anticipation loans even though state law caps small-loan rates at 25 percent. The tax preparers get away with it by using out-of-state banks.
• Debt collectors illegally harassing and threatening consumers, even if they’d paid off the debt or never owed the money in the first place.
=snip=
Albany puts those in need on hold until next session
Promises to curb abuse by lenders and merchants stall as lawmakers go on hiatus
By Jonathan D. Epstein and Rod Watson NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
Updated: 07/30/07 6:22 AM
During the waning days of this year’s state legislative session, Albany’s leaders apparently have found a way to give themselves an eventual raise.
But when it comes to looking out for some of the poorest residents being gouged by abusive — and sometimes illegal — financial practices, the legislators will wind up the session by doing virtually nothing.
Bills that would have made significant changes in mortgage lending, the rent-toown industry and other areas were left on the table. So was any effort to crack down on illegal checkcashers.
“I guess I’m disappointed, because I don’t know what Albany has accomplished. The legislators aren’t really doing anything,” said Carol Brent, staff attorney at Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled and Disadvantaged of Western New York.
The inaction follows public hearings and public promises in the wake of The Buffalo News’ series “The High Cost of Being Poor” and “The Merchants of Debt” exposing financial practices that victimize the working poor. Several consumer protection bills were introduced in the Assembly, but few passed. And fewer still were approved in the Senate.
=snip=
Problems outlined in The News’ series include:
• Corner stores operating without a check-cashing license and illegally charging customers up to 10 percent — often $30, $40 or more — to cash tax refund, payroll and other checks. State law limits such fees to 99 cents.
• Rent-to-own stores that market to those who can’t get credit while taking advantage of a loophole in state law letting them charge two or three times what a stove or washer is worth.
• Predatory lenders who target those with poor credit, writing mortgages they know the homeowner cannot repay, practically guaranteeing a foreclosure.
• Insurers who charge more to drivers in poor neighborhoods, regardless of driving record or claims history.
• “Instant refund” tax services that gouge desperate consumers with annual interest rates of up to 180 percent on refund anticipation loans even though state law caps small-loan rates at 25 percent. The tax preparers get away with it by using out-of-state banks.
• Debt collectors illegally harassing and threatening consumers, even if they’d paid off the debt or never owed the money in the first place.
=snip=