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Margert in the News
Credit Card
Rates Hit Record Highs
The Full Story
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Interest rates are now hovering near record highs, at
an average rate of 14.72%. And if your credit is bad enough, you could even end
up with a rate as high as 59.9% APR.
That's because while the CARD Act helped crack down on certain fees and
requires more disclosures, it didn't cap every credit card holder's worst enemy:
interest rates.
Sure, the new rules prevent banks from raising most interest rates
retroactively, but there's no limit on the rates they can charge new customers.
"Rates are going up because card issuers know that
once you get a card they can't raise the rates, so they're raising rates on the
front end to ensure they get the revenue from that interest," said Beverly
Harzog, credit card expert at
Credit.com.
APRs have climbed more than 20% over the past two
years and hit an all-time high of an average 14.78% in mid-November, based on
weekly data CreditCards.com
collects from 100 of the nation's top credit card issuers.
And there's no end in sight. While interest rate caps have been proposed --
including a proposal earlier this month from New York Congressman Maurice
Hinchey that would limit rates at 15% -- none have been passed into law so far.
View full story.
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Cuomo Vetoes Foreclosure
Counseling Funds
The Full Story
Cuomo wields veto pen to strike
$1.5M allocation from budget
By Chris Churchill, Times Union Business
writer
Published 12:00 a.m., Thursday, April 14, 2011
ALBANY - Gov.
Andrew Cuomo has vetoed money for foreclosure prevention
services, shocking housing advocates who say the funding
is crucial for helping at-risk homeowners.
Housing advocates had hoped for as much as $15 million
in state funding for the Foreclosure Prevention Services
Program. Cuomo, who has won praise for working to
control state spending, this week nixed $1.5 million
placed in the $132.5 billion budget by the Democrats in
control of the Assembly.
That move has housing groups scrambling to line up new
funding sources. But they fear they'll have to turn away
homeowners in dire need of assistance.
"It's hard to say to people, 'We can't help you
anymore,'" said Louise McNeilly, coordinator of the
Capital Region's HomeSave Coalition. "This is a big
hit."
New York's foreclosure prevention laws are generally
considered among the nation's toughest, requiring that
lenders take several time-consuming steps before moving
ahead with a foreclosure.
Among those steps is a 90-day pre-foreclosure notice
that warns homeowners and puts them in touch with groups
like HomeSave, whose counselors work with lenders to get
the troubled owners back on track.
But the elimination of foreclosure funding threatens to
undercut the effort and the state's own law, advocates
say.
"Unless we're able to find alternative sources of
funding, housing counseling and legal assistance
agencies are probably going to close and lay people
off," said Kirsten Keefe, an attorney at the nonprofit
Empire Justice Center in Albany.
Foreclosure prevention services did not receive money in
the prior state budget, because they were still using
pools of funds appropriated in earlier years. That led
Cuomo to veto $1.5 million in the newest budget as new
spending.
The governor wrote: "This item passed by the
Legislature, to which I object and do not approve, is a
new appropriation, but is improperly characterized as a
re-appropriation.
"Accordingly, this item is disapproved."
Cuomo's office did not reply Wednesday to a request for
comment. The reaction by housing groups to Cuomo's veto
echoes that from some education and social service
advocates, who have decried the budget as harmful to the
less fortunate. Business and taxpayer groups, however,
have generally praised the budget.
In some respects, New York's anti-foreclosure efforts
may be victims of success. The state, along with the
Capital Region, is generally thought to have declining
and lower-than-average foreclosure rates.
A new report by RealtyTrac, a California company that
monitors the distressed housing market, illustrates the
point, finding the number of foreclosure filings
statewide was down 32.1 percent in the first quarter,
when compared to the prior year.
In the Capital Region, the number of filings was down
16.8 percent during the first quarter, though they rose
by 66.4 percent for the month of March alone, compared
to the prior year.
But counselors say declining numbers are misleading,
because the state's chief judge last year imposed rules
requiring the verification of all foreclosure paperwork.
That move, they say, has created a backlog of filings
that are nevertheless still in the pipeline.
"Eventually, that logjam is going to be released," Keefe
said.
Counselors also note that the number of pre-foreclosure
notices sent to homeowners in the region has not tapered
off in recent months. (See chart.)
"There are still significant numbers of people in the
community who are at risk," McNeilly said.
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Cleveland-Area Nonprofits Merge to Reduce Costs
The Full Story
Faced with a challenging economic environment, eight human services
organizations in the Greater Cleveland area have announced that they will merge
or affiliate as a way to cut costs, the
Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
According to the Plain Dealer, the new partnerships reflect a
growing trend among nonprofits struggling to trim expenses and prepare for
further cuts in government funding while trying to boost giving from
cash-strapped donors. The local Funders Collaborative, a group of eighteen
foundations led by Deaconess Community Foundation president and CEO Deborah Vesy
and Saint Luke's Foundation president and CEO Denise San Antonio Zeman, brought
the organizations together during the recent economic downturn. Nearly all
employees of the eight organizations were retained in the mergers, said
officials.
The largest partnership is the merger between the Center for Families and
Children, which has a $23 million budget and 325 full-time employees, and the
West Side Ecumenical Ministry, which has an $8.7 million budget and 132
employees. According to the Plain Dealer, the organizations were drawn
to each other because they provide similar services to low-income families and
offer Head Start programs that may be at risk in the next round of state and
federal budget cuts. In addition, three other partnerships are in process.
"There's strength in numbers," said Center for Families and Children
president Sharon Sobol Jordan. "We'll be better off facing these challenges
together than we would as competitors going after scarce dollars."
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Catholic Charities to Build New Affordable Housing in
Brooklyn
The Full Story
Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation, the housing
developer of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, has formally begun the
development of the site of Our Lady of Loreto Church in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Catholic Charities will use the site to develop 64 units of affordable housing,
while maintaining the church for community use. The housing will be designated
for families with incomes up to 60% of Area Median Income, with preference given
to residents in Community Board 16.
This $18,000,000 project is
financed through the NYS Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), the
Housing Trust Fund, as well as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Additional
subsidies are being provided by the City of New York Department of Housing
Preservation and Development (HPD).
“We are pleased to be starting
development, and are thankful to the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC)
for partnering with us in developing this vital community resource,” said
Monsignor Alfred LoPinto, Vicar for Human Services, Diocese of Brooklyn. “This
project allows us to uphold our commitment to provide low-income families with
the highest quality housing and services in their own neighborhoods, while
maintaining a highly revered structure for the community.”
“This project
is integral to our mission. It will allow us to provide 100 low-income families
in Brownsville with attractive apartments and access to social services in their
own community,” says, Robert Siebel, Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Charities
Brooklyn and Queens. “Catholic Charities is committed to providing affordable
housing throughout Brooklyn and Queens, especially to those who are vulnerable
to rising rents, and want to remain productive participants in the life of their
community.”
Co-developed and designed by CPC, the new plan uses brick and
plank construction to deliver high quality housing that features large, bright
apartments. In 2007, CPC also worked with Catholic Charities on the preservation
of Riverdale Osborne Towers located in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
View full story.
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