abusive debt collection gets the boot in new york

Governor Paterson Signs Landmark Legislation that Protects Elderly, Disabled, Veteran, and Lower Income New Yorkers From Abusive Debt Collection

ALBANY, N.Y., Sept 29, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Exempt Income Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Dale M. Volker (Depew) and Assembly woman Helene E. Weinstein (Brooklyn), was signed into law by Governor Paterson on Friday, September 26, 2008. The law will shield elderly, disabled, veteran, and lower income New Yorkers from unlawful practices by debt collectors and goes into effect January 1, 2009.
New Yorkers for Responsible Lending (NYRL), a coalition of 141 non-profit organizations from across the state, lauded Governor Paterson for signing the bill. "NYRL applauds the Governor and the State Legislature for providing vital protections to New Yorkers who rely on subsistence income," said Claudia Wilner, Senior Staff Attorney at the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP).

The new law closes a loophole that has allowed debt collectors and credit card companies to use "restraining notices" to freeze the bank accounts of New Yorkers who receive income that is exempt from debt collection under federal and state law, such as Social Security, veterans benefits, disability, and pension. The law ensures the first $2,500 in an account which contains directly deposited exempt income cannot be restrained.

"This law is a victory for older New Yorkers, veterans, and all low-income consumers who are experiencing difficult times in our sagging economy," said Lois Aronstein, AARP New York State Director. "Governor Paterson, Senator Volker, and Assemblywoman Weinstein are to be commended for their work to help those New Yorkers most in need."

"Advocates throughout the state have been overwhelmed by cases of lower income New Yorkers facing severe problems because their bank accounts have been frozen. We praise the State for passing this critical new law, one of the strongest in the nation," said Kirsten Keefe, Staff Attorney at the Empire Justice Center.

Lawyers who represent individuals when their accounts are frozen -- from agencies such as the Legal Aid Society in Queens, MFY Legal Services, South Brooklyn Legal Services, the Elder Law Clinic at St. John's University School of Law, District Council 37, and Urban Justice Center -- were thrilled with the news. "The law creates a process that strikes a fair balance between the rights of creditors and debtors," said Gina Calabrese, a Professor of Clinical Education and Associate Director of St. John's Elder Law Clinic.

Said Carolyn E. Coffey, a Staff Attorney with MFY Legal Services, "In these tough economic times, it is heartening that New York lawmakers have come together to enact a law that will protect the most vulnerable New Yorkers from unscrupulous debt collectors."

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more behind the scene news from carolyn, a SG friend, who helped make this law happen ... congrats carolyn!

I have been working on legislation for the past year and a half to close a loophole in New York law that enables debt collectors to seize elderly and disabled people's exempt income (i.e., social security, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, veterans' benefits) in their bank accounts. The practice is to freeze a person's bank account and then demand payment, even after the collector is informed that the account contains money that is not subject to collection. If they refuse to release it (which is illegal), the person is forced to go to court and navigate the judicial system on their own, which many people simply cannot do. Because so many people who receive benefits do so electronically through direct deposit, it is very simple for the banks to look into someone account before freezing it and see that the contents are clearly exempt, but they take the position that they have to freeze the account otherwise they will be violating a court order. Of course the banks also get to charge the consumer $125 restraining fee, which they take right out of the account. This is the number one problem we get calls about on our consumer rights project hotline at MFY Legal Services.

So I, along with some other consumer advocates from other organizations, drafted legislation to change New York's law regarding this practice. The new law automatically protects $2500 in a person's account that contains clearly exempt direct deposit (which is more than most of our clients ever have) and protects $1716 in other accounts. It also simplifies the procedure for claiming that all the money in an account above those amounts is exempt from collection and prohibits the banks from charging fees when the restraint is deemed void. It was passed in the assembly last year but died in the senate. So this year we lobbied extensively--among other things, I went out to Long Island and to Albany to meet with legislative aides and explain the bill, and we were able after much negotiating to get the banks on board with the proposal. It passed unanimously in the senate and assembly in June, and we had been waiting for Governor Paterson to sign it into law, which we thought would be a no-brainer. When it finally came to his desk, however, a bunch of state agencies who collect debts (like child support and unpaid tickets) came forward screaming that they would be hindered in their collection practices by the bill (which they wouldn't be) and the governor started making noises that he planned to veto the bill. So I went to Albany last week and met with his staffers in an attempt to work out a solution, and the members of our mini-coalition reached out to all those involved, and in the end, we were able to resolve the problem by exempting the state agencies. So the governor signed the bill, and it will go into effect January 1, 2009.

we are what we eat.. uh oh!

after reading naomi klein's the shock doctrine and no logo, i picked up stuffed & starved at bluestockings bookstore in the lower east side. a friend had raved about it, and naomi klein called it "the product of a brilliant mind and a gift to a world hungering for justice."

what else can we do besides make smart choices at the local health food store or shop at the local farmers market? choosing smart food products feels just as impossible as choosing stuff not made in china, vietnam, the phillippines.

reading UC berkeley professor raj patel's investigation into the global food network inspires, upsets and informs. tracing the history of the world food system's ills and abuses, he also reports on the success of powerful collective groups of farmers who are taking back their land and humanizing the food production process.

his conclusion contains the heart of his argument and his plan for us to rebalance what we eat and how it's produced. he asserts several theoretical changes to get us active, thinking and sharing what we know:

1. transform our tastes -- wean ourselves from the sugar, salt, fat and processed products that food corporations push on us & learn to savour food differently. patel suggests the companies who "benefit most from the food system's inequities" must be held accountable. taxing processed food is a start to put pressure on agribusiness, just as removing soda and candy vending machines from schools (nj) or banning transfats (nyc) sends a strong message from public health advocates.

2. eat locally & seasonally -- buy local products, avoid those superstores/walmarts, and support locally owned businesses as much as possible. local food will taste more fresh than food that is treated to travel long distances. it will cost less and have a lower impact on the environment.

3. on a much broader level -- directly understand the human element of where and how our food is produced, and support farm workers rights and living wages for all. shouldn't we all have access and wages to afford higher priced fair trade and organic food?

Maxed Out

This is one powerful film. If you have not seen it you should, fast (while you cut up your credit cards). It is about the takeover of our government by corporations in part, but also how entrenched every politician is & cozy in bed with these companies and that the 2005 Bankruptcy Law (which the new Vice Presidential nominee Senator Biden voted for) was a sham and a giveaway to credit card companies (the law was written by MBNA).

It shows how the system is stacked against the common person and how we simply all are a tragedy away from losing everything. It shows that when these tragedies do strike the credit card companies and collection agencies could care less about you, so they sell your debt to anyone with a penny. I was one of those people when I lost almost everything due to a terrible car accident (I got lucky and sued the fuckers). For years afterward I had scum bags calling me because they said I still owed them money (although I didn't).

Electing a democratic president will not change this fact, get rid of your debt or stop these companies from funding our government. Here is the trailer. You can also read the book "Maxed Out."



Roll Call vote for the Bankruptcy Bill, Senator Clinton did not vote though she supported an earlier version and Senator Obama did vote against it as most democrats did, but not Senator Biden.

THE VAMPIRE EFFECT

before leaving for our recent trip, i thought hmm, let me unplug stuff in our apartment to save some dollars and power. i unplugged the power cords, laptop, clock, lamps, etc. and thought gee, i'm getting something done here!

well, not really. according to the recent good magazine and their monthly spread charts called transparency (such as our outrageous sugar consumption and student debt rates, etc.), i only hit the tip of the iceberg with our lurking vampire energy. even when our appliances are turned off, most still consume electricity, either in passive or active mode. good magazine's chilling vampire chart (not yet online but will be soon) tracks average standby modes and annual kilowatt sucked energy. vampire energy is estimated to cost us consumers $3 billion a year.

the worst culprit in active standby mode? a plasma tv at 1,452.4 kws or 160 bucks. while i did right by unplugging the laptop (144.5 kws, much lower than a desktop at 311) and rechargeable toothbrush (12.3 kws), i didn't unplug our cordless phone charger or TV combo VCR/DVD player (171 kws). we don't have a microwave, but that sets you back 35 kws. and don't forget game consoles -- they eat up lots of active power at 234 kws.

so what should we do? obsessively plug/unplug stuff? buy less stuff? buy with a better conscience?

i suggest all that and investing in smart strips to curb your idle power use or check out the mini power minder (cheap at 15 bucks) that has "the smarts to shut off your computer’s peripherals and doodads when the computer itself is shut down."

well worth the price, right?

cracking the corn habit

who are these dudes & why are they in a cornfield?

i heard about this documentary, king corn, but haven't seen it yet. king corn tells the story of 2 good friends, an acre of corn and this subsidized crop that fuels our fast food nation.

on october 31st, these 2 buddies decided to take on a "king corn" challenge for the month of november:

The rules of the challenge are simple in theory, but treacherous in their reach, a symptom of the broad adoption of corn byproducts and feed usage in our industrialized food system.

--No corn products, apart from fresh corn on the cob.
--No soda or other products made from high fructose corn syrup.
--No meat, dairy, chicken, fish, or other animals that have been raised on corn products.
--No products that contain corn derivatives.

join them by signing up here or check out their progress here.

if this is just too much to take on now, see the daily green, a new website launched by hearst media that touts itself as "the consumer's guide to the [green] revolution." i found some useful tips (lots of familiar stuff i post from ideal bite or grist) but most useful is the "get local info" menu which directs you to recycling resources, markets, etc.

will this website make green mainstream?

Hilldale, Utah and Federal Crime

Hilldale, Utah: The sentence for rape in the state of Utah is five years to life. In Hilldale, a small town of about 2,000, these numbers might be good to keep in mine. In a place where sites like 2Wives.com are easy to find, and polygamy is commonplace, things are getting even hotter than usual in this southwest locale. Hilldale is one of the two cities in the US known to be a headquarters for the Fundamentalist Church of Mormon, a splinter off of the official Mormons, that was established in 1890, when the original church decided that Joseph Smith was less powerful than the US Feds, and banned polygamy.

Some places just didn't agree with that decision. They still don't...120 years later.

The man pictured to the right is Warren Jeffs or the current "prophet" of the FCM. He is a man in trouble. According to CourtTVNews:

Warren Jeffs, the polygamist leader captured this week after four months on the FBI's Most Wanted list, will face charges of arranging the marriages of underage girls first in Utah and then in Arizona, federal and state officials agreed Wednesday morning.
The decision on venue is an effort by prosecutors to prevent Jeffs, set to make his first court appearance here Thursday morning, from posting bail and returning to the life of a fugitive, authorities said.
The charges awaiting Jeffs in Washington County, Utah, two counts of rape as an accomplice, carry significantly more prison time than the statutory rape and conspiracy charges he faces in Mohave County, Ariz.
"We have more serious charges here in Washington County and flowing from that is an opportunity to have a higher bail amount and make it less likely he would get bail," said Brock Belnap, the county attorney in St. George.

According to the piece, the Church has about 10,000 members based in Hilldale and Colorado City, Arizona. Jeffs, playing the "matchmaker" in the case, compelled a younger girl of 16 to marry an older man (of 28). The man forced her to have sex with her, allegedly saying, "If you do (leave the marriage), you'll lose your salvation."

The following is from the testimony of Candi Shapley:

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith: Could you tell the grand jury just a little bit about some of the things you were taught from your parents and also through the school system as far as how they women are supposed to be and what types of jobs they should seek in life and what type of education they should get?
Candi Shapley: We're not really taught that much about education. We're taught that we're supposed to be good mothers, grow up and get married and our whole — we were taught that we're here to bring children onto the earth and raise them as sweet as possible.
...
Shapley testified that she grew up living with her father, his six wives and some of her 56 siblings in a house with 20 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. In March 2002, he told her Jeffs had chosen a husband for her and she would be married the next day.

The case is just getting started, and according to Court TV, Miss Shapley recently changed her mind about testifying against Jeffs.

A Big Deal

If you want an inconvenient truth, there it is: that the very notion of convenience upon which our civilization rests is a lie that is killing us. (Garret Keizer, Harper`s)

The line was way too long for 2:30 in the morning. I was waiting in JFK after getting off my flight from Panama, and I had no interest in standing for an hour on line. Unfortunately, the choice wasn`t mine...customs officials are not known for their leniency. So I waited with the hundred or more passengers for the opportunity of being questioned by a tired-looking, grumpy government official.

slowly, the line inched forward. Amazingly, I made it to my turn, and began a conversation that lasted much longer than I`d hoped. My interrogator displayed much more energy than I`d expected. I passed the test, and moved on to search the airport bowels for my suitcase. Upon finding it, my ordeal was almost complete. When I finally met my parents in the terminal lobby, we headed out to the expansive parking complex. I say "complex" because "lot" would not do justice to the sheer size of the place. It's huge, and for good reason.

I was back in America, and Americans love big. Especially when it comes to cars. We just can't do with a car that gets us around, fits the groceries, and isn't going to flatten the other car in an accident. We need a tank. Driving is war, and a soldier doesn't go into battle without the best weapons. Everyone knows that. If I hadn't been living in Brazil for the last 3 years, i probably wouldn't have been so shocked at the state of passenger vehicles in the U.S. Yes, I have always been a bit surprised when I see people driving around Manhattan in a Hummer, a truck that demands about three parking spaces. However, when you reside in a country in which most cars could fit in the trunk of a Ford Expedition, coming back to New York never ceases to take my breath away.

I got to thinking. If people, especially Americans, keep buying these behemoths, can climate change be avoided, or even slowed down? These people, who drive these SUVs, are actually going to go along with a paradigm shift that requires us to consume less? To live smaller? Can we actually live with that culture shock? Do Americans, on average, really care about the effect of greenhouse gases on Sub-Saharan African countries?

The JFK airport parking lot, in the next few years, may hold the answer.