From the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) web site:
NACA advocacy was instrumental in passing the federal Homeownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) and the strongest state anti-predatory legislation in Georgia. NACA’s campaign against Fleet focused national attention to the issue of predatory lending. NACA brought over 400 people to testify in front of the Senate banking committee. The tremendous participation of predatory lending victims from around the country clearly had an impact on Chairman Riegal and Senator Alphonse D’Amato, who sponsored HOEPA. It was NACA’s grassroots mobilization that brought the issue to the elected officials attention and had them address it. NACA’s campaigns and other testimonies in front of the House and Senate committees were instrumental in the passing of the only federal legislation to combat predatory lending.
The campaign in Georgia reunited Governor Roy Barnes with NACA. Governor Barnes worked extensively with NACA in the Fleet Bank campaign. He was the lead attorney in the Georgia class action lawsuits against Fleet. Despite the Georgia Supreme Court rulings against all the lawsuits, NACA was able to negotiate a settlement for his class. The class received six million dollars and his firm two million dollars.
Governor Barnes was looking to pass comprehensive anti-predatory lending legislation. He needed grassroots advocacy to bring the issue to the legislatures’ attention. NACA mobilized hundreds of NACA members who converged on the Georgia statehouse. NACA organized a loan closing in the rotunda of the state house, to refinance a NACA Member out of a predatory loan with Wells Fargo. NACA was able to get Wells Fargo to reduce the payoff by $20,000 to make the loan affordable. NACA advocacy was instrumental in providing Governor Barnes with the opportunity to pass the strongest lending protections in the country.
NACA has worked in mobilizing predatory lending victims and supporters in other states and continues its advocacy in providing the opportunity to pass comprehensive and effective lending protections against predatory lending.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
My wife and I were conned into a morgage that we really thought we could afford. We put our life savings down on an FHA morgage. Now I understand that we could have put much less down and at least be able to get by. We have a condo fee that we knew about but wasnt taken into account when getting the mortgage. I want to pay my bills , but I feel as though we signed things that were not properly explained. I have applied for a modification but, we are getting mixed advuce from the back. (bank Of America, Cuntry wide Mortgage) My wife is disabled because of traumatic brain injury and I knew very little about the mortgage process. Can you help us?
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Todd Temaat Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 8:57 am
I would recommend finding a trusted friend or adviser to help you through this. Someone that has some real estate or mortgage experience…maybe from church, school, work, or a community organization. If there’s no one like that, I’d recommend checking out the Find an Attorney page on the National Assoc of Consumer Advocates website: http://members.naca.net/findanattorney/
If that doesn’t work, drop me an e-mail and I can refer you to a lawyer/modification expert I trust.
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