In February 2019, New Economy Project filed a federal class action lawsuit charging the NYC Transit Authority, an arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), with systemic due process violations. The civil rights lawsuit challenges the Transit Authority’s seizures of people’s state tax refunds to collect on default judgments—some going back 20 years or more—without […]
June
2020
11
Systematic wealth extraction from communities of color hasn’t stopped for the public health crisis caused by COVID-19—and it won’t stop unless we transform our economy.
June
2020
8
ProPublica — Since 2018, Capital One has been a looming presence in Julio Lugo’s life, ever since the company sued him, as it did 29,000 other New Yorkers that year, over an unpaid credit card. But when the coronavirus hit the city this March, it wasn’t on his mind.
May
2020
1
The City — As the coronavirus crisis unfolded in New York, Robert McNamara thought he should take some money out of the bank, just to be safe.
On March 19, the substitute teacher and father of two figured he’d be out of work for a while. Public schools had just closed, possibly for the rest of the spring. Plus, with big swings on the stock market, he wanted a bit of cash on hand.
April
2020
29
New Economy Project strongly supports Int. 1912 and we urge the Committee to bring the bill before the full body of the NYC Council, for the swiftest possible passage into law. We commend Speaker Johnson and other sponsors of this emergency legislation for their strong leadership. New Economy Project, along with thousands of New Yorkers and more than 60 groups statewide, has been pressing Governor Cuomo to institute an emergency statewide moratorium on predatory debt collection during the COVID-19 crisis.
April
2020
28
Law 360 — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to envelop the country, some consumer advocates are calling for greater protections for consumers until the crisis abates, arguing that the economic crisis is negatively impacting the ability of Americans to not only pay their debts but also fight collection actions in court.
April
2020
22
ProPublica — Late last month, Kim Boatswain sat down at her computer in her southeast Austin home and logged into her credit union account. Her bills and mortgage were coming due soon, and she needed to move money from her savings to checking so she could pay them.
April
2020
20
“We applaud Attorney General James for issuing strong guidance making clear that emergency stimulus payments authorized by the CARES Act are exempt from garnishment under New York law. Her commitment to aggressively prosecute any creditor or debt collector that garnishes New Yorkers’ stimulus payments is an example of the kind of leadership we need from our elected officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April
2020
16
CBS News — The U.S. Treasury is sending out 80 million stimulus checks this week, the first part of its effort to put cash into Americans’ hands to ride out the coronavirus pandemic. But many of those checks will never reach the people they’re intended for.
April
2020
16
Gothamist — The $1,200 stimulus checks that began hitting millions of Americans’ bank accounts on Wednesday could turn into a “backdoor bailout” for banks and creditors—which can currently seize the payments for individuals’ existing debt under a loophole the Treasury Department has not yet addressed.