Big Bank Usury: Warren on Whitehouse Amendment
by ilene - May 17th, 2010 3:39 pm
Big Bank Usury: Warren on Whitehouse Amendment
Courtesy of Lynn Parramore at New Deal 2.0
Aristotle called usury the “most hated form” of wealth-accumulation. Dante sent practitioners to the seventh circle of hell. The Qur’an proposes that usurers are controlled by the devil’s influence, and we’ve all heard how Jesus, that avatar non-violence, was stirred to a round of ass-kicking when he found the money lenders in Herod’s temple.
Screwing the poor through usury has been considered an abomination throughout human civilization – a disease of the body politic that sickens people morally and economically.
For two centuries, American states had the power to enforce usury laws against any lender doing business with its citizens. But in 1978, a Supreme Court case transformed the world of lending. In Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp., the Supreme Court changed the interpretation of the National Bank Act of 1863 so that states could no longer regulate interest rates on nationally-chartered banks. BINGO! Big banks quickly saw a Big Opportunity. They would now be able to dodge interest rate restrictions by reinventing themselves as “national banks” and hightailing it to states with weak consumer protections. A small number of states chucked interest rate caps in order to lure credit card business and related tax revenue.
Thanks to that unfortunate 1978 decision, credit card divisions of major banks are based in just a few states, while local banks struggle with unfair out-of-state competition fight to stay afloat. Meanwhile, consumers across the country are gouged by stratospheric interest rates and fees.
An amendment submitted by Senator Whitehouse and cosponsored by Senators Cochran, Merkley, Durbin, Sanders, Levin, Burris, Franken, Brown (OH), Menendez, Leahy, Webb, Casey, Wyden, Reed, Udall (CO), and Begich aims to change all this by restoring state powers to protect their citizens with interest rate limits on lending done within the state.
Here’s a breakdown of what the amendment would accomplish:
- Restore to the states the ability to enforce interest rate caps against out-of-state lenders.
- By Amending the Truth in Lending Act, cover all consumer lenders, no matter what their legal form, minimizing the opportunity for gaming by changing charter type.
- Become effective twelve months after enactment – giving state legislatures time to evaluate and update usury statutes.
- Level the playing field so that intrastate lenders like community banks, local retailers, and credit unions are no
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Internet Foreclosure “Myths”
by ilene - May 1st, 2010 3:11 pm
Internet Foreclosure “Myths”
Courtesy of Patrick Pulatie, originally published at The Implode-O-Meter Blog
Just over two and one half years ago, I began to work with homeowners facing foreclosure. At that time, there were two or three websites that had any information on foreclosure prevention and any viable defenses to foreclosure. Since that time, starting in late 2008, and throughout 2009, there has been an explosion of websites featuring foreclosure information. This has been both good and bad for the homeowner facing foreclosure; good because homeowners have been able to learn much about their situation, and know that they were not alone, but bad because there is much “inaccurate” information about foreclosure defenses being presented. This article is intended to help the homeowner sort the good and the bad.
I write this knowing that I am going to receive significant negative feedback from many different sources. Some will be disputing what I write because they have heard of people with positive results. Some will argue because for them, the distribution of such information is part of their business model and the more people who know that what they “preach” is not effective, the less they will make. Others will disagree because I am at direct odds with certain people that they follow, ones who have high visibility, but have not stepped into court rooms in years. More will even argue that I side with the lenders.
There is a particular motivation for writing this. I receive phone calls daily and weekly from homeowners who have read these from sites, and are thinking that if they just do one thing or another, their problems will “magically” disappear. Others are Pro Se litigants, doing their own lawsuits instead of hiring attorneys. They want me to review their filings, advise them where they are wrong, or do Predatory Lending Examinations. I refuse to do this because I will not work with a person who does not have an attorney, and I am not an attorney and cannot give legal advice. The sad part is that in their filings, I can immediately spot so many errors that it is obvious that they should just start packing to move.
The criteria for being considered a "myth" includes the probability of a desired outcome, and/or…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the site