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.
April
2020
14
In the best of times, predatory debt collection is a scourge that siphons wealth from New Yorkers, destabilizes neighborhoods and perpetuates racial and economic inequality. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing debt collectors to continue to hound New Yorkers and take their money is jeopardizing people’s lives.
April
2020
14
Daily News, Op-Ed — In the best of times, predatory debt collection is a scourge that siphons wealth from New Yorkers, destabilizes neighborhoods and perpetuates racial and economic inequality. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing debt collectors to continue to hound New Yorkers and take their money is jeopardizing people’s lives.
April
2020
13
Daily News — At a time when millions of freshly jobless people are practicing emergency economic triage, debt collectors continue to chase judgments and seek to freeze bank accounts of those they say are in default. This is madness.
April
2020
10
Today, a coalition of nine groups delivered a petition, signed by more than 2,700 New Yorkers, to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, calling for an immediate moratorium on debt collection during the Covid-19 crisis, as a matter of public health and safety.
March
2020
26
Our team has been working remotely since the COVID-19 outbreak began in New York – feeling fortunate that we have that option. We are keeping our NYC Financial Justice Hotline open, and have received alarming calls from many New Yorkers who are being hounded by debt collectors, despite the crisis.