On Predatory Lending

(Photo: AP)

Victims of predatory lenders are fighting back as Commercial Appeal reporter Trevor Aaronson aptly reported in today's edition.

An excerpt:

That's what Hawkins claims happened to her when she came to Equity Title on May 29, 2001, to borrow enough money to upgrade her home. Instead of agreeing to the $20,000 loan she expected, Hawkins said she found herself closing on a $40,500 home-equity loan that had rolled her unsecured credit card debt into the mortgage.

When she signed the paperwork, an Equity Title employee allegedly told her not to date the records. Instead, someone at Equity Title backdated the paperwork four days, to May 25, 2001, making Hawkins ineligible to back out of the loan during the 72-hour grace period, the lawsuit claimed.

Two years later, Hawkins fell behind in payments, faced foreclosure and declared bankruptcy.

She then joined with the 16 other plaintiffs, all African-American, against Equity Title and several other companies, including Memphis Financial Services and NovaStar Mortgage.

In regards to the coverage of predatory lending, my only qualm is that it is often perceived as a problem only for African Americans. Yes, we are disproportionately targeted, which fits into the victim/hardship narrative that seemingly embodies some folks' sense of the black experience.

"People are suffering all over, but people who have historically suffered are once again suffering the worst from this whole subprime meltdown," said Webb A. Brewer, the attorney who represented Hawkins and her co-plaintiffs.

Yet, predatory lending really crosses racial and cultural lines.

I'm just sayin, this country has difficulty addressing problems when they only seem to impact one group more than others.