Equity Predators: Stripping, Flipping and Packing Their Way to Profits
March 31, 1998
The subprime lending market, which provides loans to "high-risk" borrowers, has grown exponentially in recent years. Many arque that this growth is the result of predatory lending practices targeted specifically at unsuspecting senior homeowners. Titled " Equity Predators: Stripping, Flipping, and Packing Their Way to Profits," the March 16th hearing will focus specifically on these practices and their impact on seniors. The purpose of the hearing is threefold:
- to expose these predatory lending practices;
- to educate seniors on how to spot problems before they sign a loan or mortage; and
- to empower seniors with information so that they can avoid these practies in the future.
As illustrated above, this hearing is consumer-oriented in nature, directed particularly at senior homeowners who are at risk of falling prey to unscrupulous lenders. The impact these lenders and their predatory practices have on senior homeowners is tremendous; their home, memories, security, and health are often threatened. In the eyes of unscrupulous lenders, the collateral at stake is merely a peice of property. To seniors, it is the home where they have raised their children and live their lives.
Date: March 16, 1998
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Dirksen 628
Statements of Committee Members
Witness Testimony Panel 1: Seniors Victimized by Predatory Lending Practices
Witness Testimony Panel 2:
- " Jim Dough", Former Employee of a Predatory Lender
Witness Testimony Panel 3:
- Gene Marsh, Professor of Law at theUniversity of Alabama Law School, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Jodi Bernstein, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC
- William J. Brennan, Jr., Director of the Home Defense Program, Altanta Legal Aid Society Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Hearing Publications
- Committee on Aging Print: 105-18