[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. Their comprehensive review of federaland state laws and regulations makes that point compellingly.And theiroutline of what is needed by way of comprehensive remedies is right ontarget, dealing with each and every aspect of current defects: preemption,procedural and servicing issues, mandatory arbitration, flipping, and so on.They correctly point out that state-level reforms, in some cases, have pro-vided useful models, but that now the time has come for the hard partmeshing the progress that has been made at the local level with the best ofthe existing federal statutory scheme. A current, and key, issue is federal preemption of state laws.This is adicey, and more general, problem, for which there never is a consistent po-sition: those in the civil rights movement certainly and successfully pushedfor the feds to override the laws and powers of the southern states thatwere enforcing an apartheid system.On the other hand, there is real worrythat federal preemption can undermine (and is designed to undermine)strong local and state measures.Not too long ago, federal legislation,pushed by the real estate industry and conservative members of Congress,was designed to withhold housing and community development funds fromlocales with rent control.In that same area, and moving down the gov-ernment hierarchy a step, progressive housing activists defeated a move bythe California legislature to enact a law limiting local rent control ordi-nances.In mid-2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)promulgated an anti predatory lending standard for national banks thatblocks enforcement of stricter state laws.For those of us who are trying to fight predatory lending, the position isan obvious one: yes, let s have a federal standard strong enough to trumpweak and inadequate state laws, but at the same time allow states to havelaws and regulations that exceed the federal standard.Virtually the entire 212 Why the Poor Pay Morereal estate industry Mortgage Bankers Association, American Bankers As-sociation, Consumer Bankers Association, Financial Services Roundtable,America s Community Bankers, Consumer Mortgage Coalition, NationalAssociation of Mortgage Brokers, National Home Equity Mortgage Asso-ciation supports a uniform national standard, but the one they support isa far cry from what John Relman and his associates, as well as the othercontributors to this book, favor; and the reason for such unified (and po-litically powerful) industry support is largely motivated by an attempt toundercut or head off stronger action by states North Carolina, New York,and New Jersey, for example where activists like ACORN have madeheadway.On the other side, all 50 state attorneys general have signed aletter opposing the OCC move again, not necessarily because of motivesconsistent with predatory lending opponents, but because of states rightsprinciples.13Globalization and Human RightsReturning to Lee s observations about the relationship of economic glob-alization to the predatory lending epidemic, he raises the interesting, andpotentially effective, point that beyond consumer protection and financialsoundness concerns, predatory lending is a human rights issue, and thusamenable to treatment/remedy under one of several internationalcovenants.While this is an innovative and imaginative approach, there areof course limits on what can be done in that arena, in particular in the cur-rent environment, given the administration s attitude toward internation-alism somewhere between disregard and contempt.Some organizing andpublic education work in other arenas sweatshop labor, for exampledoes offer a possibly more roseate prospect.One clear need, as Relman etal.point out, is the continuing need for anti predatory lending analysis,organizing and advocacy that look beyond the United States. The Real Solution Housing ProgramsBut the real need to bypass/avoid predatory lending altogether is bet-ter, more socially progressive programs to aid home owners in trouble andavoid foreclosure.While there are some people who merit the all too looselyused term deadbeats that is, those who can pay but simply are tryingto avoid their obligations the overwhelming majority of home owners introuble are in that situation due to genuine hardship, most often with acause outside their control: illness or injury, loss of employment, and such.We must ask whether it is in society s interest to allow the normal work-ings of the free market to displace hundreds of thousands of home ownerseach year; it certainly is not in the interest of the families themselves, forit leads to massive disruptions in social networks and children s schooling, Predatoriness, and What We Can Do About It 213emotional turmoil, family stress and breakup, and often outright home-lessness this last result in turn leading to nontrivial costs the society mustbear.14There are model programs, for home owners, as well as renters, to pre-vent eviction and loss of home through mortgage foreclosure.Ira Goldsteincites as examples the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania s HomeownersEmergency Mortgage Assistance Program (http://www.phfa.org/programs/hemap), as well as the City of Philadelphia s two loan products, de-signed to make credit available to people with less than perfect credit, inamounts not exceeding need, and at reasonable rates. Additionally, theHome Equity Loan Preservation Program (administered by a housing coun-seling association, ACORN, and Goldstein s Reinvestment Fund) was cre-ated to refinance those people who have fallen victim to abusive lendingpractices.15 Such programs require funding (although not in vast amounts)and good counseling services, but the social and human payoff is well worthit.The Bigger PictureA multipronged, comprehensive approach clearly is needed if we are toeliminate the scourge of predatory lending.And the quicker we get it, theless suffering for those who are already suffering too much and the betterit will be for our communities.We need to see the phenomenon within and in relation to the broadercontexts outlined above.We have to see the issue as part of a broader needto create housing stability for all, home owners and renters alike, the so-cial and personal benefits of which are irrefutable.And moving to a higherlevel, we need to be working to create a right to housing beyond the scopeof this book, but something we need to think about and work on.16NOTES1.Imaginative opportunities for predatory behavior emerge constantly.A newwrinkle was brought to my attention in a recent Washington Post article: MaryBeth Sheridan, District Clears Out Illegal Pay Phones, Washington Post, April 8,2004.Companies illegally (i.e., without city permits) install pay phones in neigh-borhoods populated by low-income and minority, especially immigrant, residents,where cell phones and home-based phones are largely absent. Many such con-sumers use phone cards and don t realize the high fees they are charged for usingthe illegal phones [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl przylepto3.keep.pl
. Their comprehensive review of federaland state laws and regulations makes that point compellingly.And theiroutline of what is needed by way of comprehensive remedies is right ontarget, dealing with each and every aspect of current defects: preemption,procedural and servicing issues, mandatory arbitration, flipping, and so on.They correctly point out that state-level reforms, in some cases, have pro-vided useful models, but that now the time has come for the hard partmeshing the progress that has been made at the local level with the best ofthe existing federal statutory scheme. A current, and key, issue is federal preemption of state laws.This is adicey, and more general, problem, for which there never is a consistent po-sition: those in the civil rights movement certainly and successfully pushedfor the feds to override the laws and powers of the southern states thatwere enforcing an apartheid system.On the other hand, there is real worrythat federal preemption can undermine (and is designed to undermine)strong local and state measures.Not too long ago, federal legislation,pushed by the real estate industry and conservative members of Congress,was designed to withhold housing and community development funds fromlocales with rent control.In that same area, and moving down the gov-ernment hierarchy a step, progressive housing activists defeated a move bythe California legislature to enact a law limiting local rent control ordi-nances.In mid-2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)promulgated an anti predatory lending standard for national banks thatblocks enforcement of stricter state laws.For those of us who are trying to fight predatory lending, the position isan obvious one: yes, let s have a federal standard strong enough to trumpweak and inadequate state laws, but at the same time allow states to havelaws and regulations that exceed the federal standard.Virtually the entire 212 Why the Poor Pay Morereal estate industry Mortgage Bankers Association, American Bankers As-sociation, Consumer Bankers Association, Financial Services Roundtable,America s Community Bankers, Consumer Mortgage Coalition, NationalAssociation of Mortgage Brokers, National Home Equity Mortgage Asso-ciation supports a uniform national standard, but the one they support isa far cry from what John Relman and his associates, as well as the othercontributors to this book, favor; and the reason for such unified (and po-litically powerful) industry support is largely motivated by an attempt toundercut or head off stronger action by states North Carolina, New York,and New Jersey, for example where activists like ACORN have madeheadway.On the other side, all 50 state attorneys general have signed aletter opposing the OCC move again, not necessarily because of motivesconsistent with predatory lending opponents, but because of states rightsprinciples.13Globalization and Human RightsReturning to Lee s observations about the relationship of economic glob-alization to the predatory lending epidemic, he raises the interesting, andpotentially effective, point that beyond consumer protection and financialsoundness concerns, predatory lending is a human rights issue, and thusamenable to treatment/remedy under one of several internationalcovenants.While this is an innovative and imaginative approach, there areof course limits on what can be done in that arena, in particular in the cur-rent environment, given the administration s attitude toward internation-alism somewhere between disregard and contempt.Some organizing andpublic education work in other arenas sweatshop labor, for exampledoes offer a possibly more roseate prospect.One clear need, as Relman etal.point out, is the continuing need for anti predatory lending analysis,organizing and advocacy that look beyond the United States. The Real Solution Housing ProgramsBut the real need to bypass/avoid predatory lending altogether is bet-ter, more socially progressive programs to aid home owners in trouble andavoid foreclosure.While there are some people who merit the all too looselyused term deadbeats that is, those who can pay but simply are tryingto avoid their obligations the overwhelming majority of home owners introuble are in that situation due to genuine hardship, most often with acause outside their control: illness or injury, loss of employment, and such.We must ask whether it is in society s interest to allow the normal work-ings of the free market to displace hundreds of thousands of home ownerseach year; it certainly is not in the interest of the families themselves, forit leads to massive disruptions in social networks and children s schooling, Predatoriness, and What We Can Do About It 213emotional turmoil, family stress and breakup, and often outright home-lessness this last result in turn leading to nontrivial costs the society mustbear.14There are model programs, for home owners, as well as renters, to pre-vent eviction and loss of home through mortgage foreclosure.Ira Goldsteincites as examples the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania s HomeownersEmergency Mortgage Assistance Program (http://www.phfa.org/programs/hemap), as well as the City of Philadelphia s two loan products, de-signed to make credit available to people with less than perfect credit, inamounts not exceeding need, and at reasonable rates. Additionally, theHome Equity Loan Preservation Program (administered by a housing coun-seling association, ACORN, and Goldstein s Reinvestment Fund) was cre-ated to refinance those people who have fallen victim to abusive lendingpractices.15 Such programs require funding (although not in vast amounts)and good counseling services, but the social and human payoff is well worthit.The Bigger PictureA multipronged, comprehensive approach clearly is needed if we are toeliminate the scourge of predatory lending.And the quicker we get it, theless suffering for those who are already suffering too much and the betterit will be for our communities.We need to see the phenomenon within and in relation to the broadercontexts outlined above.We have to see the issue as part of a broader needto create housing stability for all, home owners and renters alike, the so-cial and personal benefits of which are irrefutable.And moving to a higherlevel, we need to be working to create a right to housing beyond the scopeof this book, but something we need to think about and work on.16NOTES1.Imaginative opportunities for predatory behavior emerge constantly.A newwrinkle was brought to my attention in a recent Washington Post article: MaryBeth Sheridan, District Clears Out Illegal Pay Phones, Washington Post, April 8,2004.Companies illegally (i.e., without city permits) install pay phones in neigh-borhoods populated by low-income and minority, especially immigrant, residents,where cell phones and home-based phones are largely absent. Many such con-sumers use phone cards and don t realize the high fees they are charged for usingthe illegal phones [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]