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Consumer

The ability of consumers to save and grow wealth depends highly on their access to affordable, responsible financial services. However, many products and services are predatory, hurting consumers and stripping equity from their homes. This section of the website has information and resources on a variety of areas related to consumer credit and access to banking services, as well as mortgage lending and foreclosures. It includes information on the work Empire Justice Center and other consumer advocates do to ensure that consumers have access to affordable, responsible consumer financial products

ARTICLES

Shed Light on the Foreclosure Shadow Docket
Materials in support of A.5582/S.4530. Read More

The Case for Banning Payday Lending: Snapshots from Four Key States
This report presents snapshots on payday loan regulation in four key states – California, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. The snapshots are intended to provide helpful lessons and serve as a useful basis for comparison. The reports authors are: California Reinvestment Coalition, New Economy Project (formerly NEDAP), Reinvestment Partners, and Woodstock Institute. Read More


IN THE NEWS

N.Y. bill would speed up foreclosure 'waiting game'
Delay can prove a catastrophic enemy of New Yorkers facing the loss of their homes to foreclosure. Read More


Courts clogged by debt cases, 'rubber stamp' rulings, advocacy group says
It's a growing problem, say consumer advocates around the country: courts that seem to behave like assembly lines, clogged with debt cases that sometimes consume an entire day’s legal action. The New Economy Project report is among the first to quantify the issue. Read More


POLICY ADVOCACY

Empire Justice Memo of Support: Public Assistance Mortgages Annual Accounting Will Provide Transparency
UPDATE: Assembly introduces a companion bill for S.5498. Currently, local social services districts do not provide the homeowner with an accounting of the amount of public assistance paid nor the amount of the accrued debt or credits made against the home. Read More


Empire Justice and other NYRL members applaud OCC and FDIC for their strong guidance on deposit advance products
More than 40 members of New Yorkers for Responsible Lending signed onto a joint comment letter applauding federal regulators for issuing strong guidance to curb deposit advance products and payday lending. Read More



PUBLICATIONS

The Long Island Foreclosure Crisis: Stabilizing the communities most impacted by foreclosures in Nassau and Suffolk Counties
Study identifies hardest hit towns and strategies to keep families in their homes and limit damage to the local tax base. Read More

 

Paying More for the American Dream VI
This report examines systemic inequities in the mortgage market, as reflected in neighborhood lending patterns based on race and ethnicity. The authors analyzed 2010 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, and compared conventional and government-backed prime mortgage lending in seven U.S. cities, based on borrowers’ race and ethnicity and the racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods. Read More

 

NEWSLETTERS

Policy Matters - June 2013
June is always a busy month here in Albany, with the legislative session drawing to a close. Our policy staff is in full swing, working on issues of critical importance to low income New Yorkers - at both the state and federal levels. Here's this month's update: Read More


TRAININGS AND EVENTS

Representing Homeowners at Mandatory Settlement Conferences
Mandatory settlement conferences are now an integral component to the foreclosure process for subprime loans. The governor has signed a new law that expands the settlement conferences to all residential loans. Pro Bono lawyers have been approved to represent homeowners for the limited capacity of these settlement conferences. This training addresses important considerations for lawyers willing to represent homeowners in this capacity. Read More

New Approaches to Stabilizing Homeowners and Communities in Western NY
This taped broadcast is geared towards housing counselors, legal services organizations, lenders, public officials, community-based organizations, and anyone who is concerned with the impact of the foreclosure crisis on homeowners and neighborhoods in the western part of the State. Discussion topics include information about housing counseling standards, specialized foreclosure trainings, State programs addressing the foreclosure issue, and successful approaches to reducing foreclosures, among other topics. Read More