NEDAP News | Vol. 6 Issue 2 | February - March 2011

• Join the Campaign to Keep Payday Lending Out of New York!
• New NYC Law Protects Low Income & Senior Homeowners
• NEDAP Receives desigNYC & Center for Urban Pedagogy Awards
• Advocacy & Training Highlights
• NEDAP in the News

Join the Campaign to Keep Payday Lending Out of New York!

A growing number of banks, check cashers and payday lenders are seeking to introduce payday loans in New York, by evading our state's criminal usury cap of 25%.  NEDAP and allies are waging an all-out campaign to keep payday loans -- which typically carry annual interest rates of 400% or more -- out of New York. 

Join us as we:

• Fight a bill in the NYS Legislature (S. 3841/A. 5297A) that would give check cashers an explicit carve-out of New York's usury law -- opening the door to loan shark interest rates in communities throughout the state.

• Shine a light on big banks' attempts to make usurious loans.  Wells Fargo dropped its plan to introduce triple-digit interest rate loans in New York after NEDAP and allies organized vehement opposition.  Wells intended to use its status as a nationally-chartered bank to circumvent New York's usury law.

Contact us for more information or to get involved!

New NYC Law Protects Low Income & Senior Homeowners

NEDAP map showing communities affected by NYC Lien Sale

On March 16, NYC enacted a new law to protect low income homeowners who have fallen behind on their property tax or water bills.  NEDAP and allies were instrumental in winning reforms to NYC's "Lien Sale," through which the city privatizes the collection of these debts.

The new law prohibits companies that buy and collect on these debts -- including Chase subsidiary Xspand -- from charging exorbitant fees and interest, which push already struggling homeowners to the brink of foreclosure.  The law also strengthens protections for senior, disabled and veteran homeowners, and provides for affordable payment plans directly with the city.

Read NEDAP's joint press release about the new law.

NEDAP Receives desigNYC & Center for Urban Pedagogy Awards

NEDAP, Rodrigo Corral Design, and desigNYC at the 2011 Kickoff Summit

NEDAP was recently honored to receive two prestigious design awards:

DesigNYC, which works to “improve the lives of New Yorkers through the power of good design," selected NEDAP as one of its 2011 pro bono projects.  NEDAP is working with Rodrigo Corral Design to create vibrant, multilingual financial rights guides for new immigrants in NYC.

NEDAP was also selected by the Center for Urban Pedagogy for one of four 2011 Making Policy Public awards.  Working with a graphic designer selected by CUP, NEDAP will produce a fold-out poster illustrating how the country’s largest banks fuel fringe and predatory financial services in low income neighborhoods and communities of color.

NEDAP and groups throughout NYC will use these materials to bolster community education and advocacy campaigns.

Advocacy & Training Highlights

Recent highlights of NEDAP’s financial justice training and advocacy include:

• Leading capacity-building training for local organizers and advocates, on:

   

• How to conduct effective foreclosure prevention education and outreach, for the Center for NYC Neighborhoods’ network of community partners.

 

• Immigrants' rights in the banking system, for Cidadao Global and Queens Community House.

 

• How to assist low income New Yorkers who are defending themselves pro se in debt collection lawsuits, at the CLARO legal clinic in Staten Island and the Bronx.

• Providing free legal assistance to low income New Yorkers, through community law clinics held at:

• Grace Outreach in the Bronx, for women in its GED program.

• NYC’s Financial Empowerment Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
• CLARO community legal clinic in the Bronx.

• Leading a session at the Black and Latino Caucus Weekend in Albany, on behalf of New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, on pressing financial justice issues.

• Speaking at the New York State Bar Association’s Annual Meeting, on a panel hosted by the Business Section on the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and on a panel hosted by the Young Lawyers Committee, on the origins of the foreclosure crisis.

• Leading community know-your-rights presentations on fair housing, foreclosure prevention, credit reports, and banking issues, at:

• Eastern Queens Alliance's Community Café
• Homeowners' Forum in Harlem
• Grace Outreach in the Bronx
• HANAC, in Astoria, Queens
• Margert Community Corporation in Far Rockaway, Queens.
• YWCA residential program, in downtown Brooklyn
• Tenants' Forum in the Bronx
• Community Board 3, in Jackson Heights, Queens

• Training court personnel that oversee foreclosure settlement conferences, on mortgage securitization and strategies to effectively resolve foreclosure cases, at the Westchester Supreme Court in White Plains, NY.

NEDAP in the News

WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show featured NEDAP in a month-long financial justice series, “Money U.”  NEDAP's Deyanira Del Rio answered listeners' questions and addressed New Yorkers' rights with respect to bank and credit union accounts; credit reports; debt collection; newly-enacted financial reforms; and avoiding predatory practices. 

NEDAP also spoke out on community financial justice in various media, including:

• NPR’s Marketplace, on the effects of bank fees on lower income communities.
• GRITtv with Laura Flanders, on big banks and the ongoing foreclosure crisis.
• WBAI 99.5FM, City Watch, on New Yorkers’ rights in debt collection.
• Crain's New York Business, Walmart: 20% rise in NYers' spending at local stores.
• Times NewsWeekly, Elmhurst Project’s Impact Is Debated.

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Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project.