Event Description
The FTC's Northeast Regional Office hosted a public forum focusing on illegal "predatory" lending practices that often exploit lower-income and minority borrowers and frequently target elderly homeowners. The Predatory Lending Forum brought together about 300 consumer advocates, bankers, state and federal regulators, and New York homeowners and senior citizens to explore legislative, legal and community-based initiatives that combat predatory lending. Co-sponsors of the Predatory Lending Forum were the AARP, the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office, the Consumer Affairs Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Better Business Bureau serving Metropolitan New York, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the National Consumer Law Center, the New York Bankers Association, the New York Urban League and the NAACP of New York.