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After a long battle waged against a notorious predatory lender by Sunflower Community Action in Wichita, KS, over 160 Kansas families who own a mobile home will receive nearly $7 million in lower interest rates, up to $5000 in cash to be put towards their loan or in their pocket and more from Conseco Finance.

(Below: Sunflower Community Action members inside the offices of Conseco Finance in Wichita, KS protesting the company's predatory lending practices. Actions like these led to a $7 million settlement from Conseco to Sunflower members.)

The settlement negotiated between the state of Kansas and Conseco and prompted by Sunflower is the first time Conseco has agreed to pay victims back for abusive lending practices. Brandi Morris a Sunflower Community Action member has had her $48,000 loan forgiven.

"This is a blessing, my husband and I paid for health insurance through Conseco, but when I got sick and couldn't work, Conseco claimed that they didn't have to cover me. I ended up losing my home because of the ordeal."

Conseco Finance, which leads the nation in mobile home loans, has destroyed the dreams of many mobile homeowners in Kansas. In Wichita alone, Conseco Finance had 390 loans in 2000 and 120 homes have already been foreclosed. Sunflower Community Action's Predatory Lending Taskforce comprised of homeowners have campaigned for 15 months to hold Conseco Finance responsible for the turmoil the corporation has wrought.

Sunflower began its battle by inviting the Kansas State Banking Commission to a public meeting in February 2001. In that meeting, Conseco homeowners demanded that a statewide investigation be done on Conseco Finance.

The battle grew from a state to a national level in March 2001 at the National People's Action Conference. The Federal Trade Commission, who attended the conference, was invited to Wichita in January 2002 to hear testimonies and facts regarding Conseco Finance's abusive lending practices.

Both the state and the FTC agreed to Sunflower's demands.

Other battles followed with many public meetings and actions against Conseco Finance offices and mobile home manufacturer companies that were in cahoots with Conseco Finance.

In January 2002, 36 angry Sunflower members went to the home of Conseco area manager, Steve Ball, to demand that he call his boss Brian Corey, vice president of Conseco Finance to meet with Sunflower Community Action.

"I'm so glad we did an action at Steve Ball's home. Had we not, we wouldn't have had our negotiations meeting with Brian Corey. Anyway it was so fun, his neighbors invited us to their monthly neighborhood meeting to discuss Conseco but fortunately for Mr. Ball, we received a call from Brian Corey right away," said Neva Burger, Sunflower Community Action member.

February 2002 marked the landmark settlement brokered between the state of Kansas, Conseco and Sunflower, including:

· Lower interest rates from 15% to 10% for a 15 to 30 year loan
· Up to $5000 in cash or in the pocket
· A consumer hotline
· No calls past 8:00pm on weeknights and no weekend calls
· Consumer management classes for Conseco Finance employees
· $70,000 in debt forgiveness (two Sunflower Community Action leaders)
· Grant money to organizations for homeowner awareness. (Sunflower was given grant money to establish a Public Service Announcement for homeowners who have problems with their lenders)

"When I purchased my home [mobile] it was just for a short term thing until I could afford a single family home. But when I signed my name on the contract I didn't realized that I was being charged 15%. It would take me more than 30 years to pay off that loan. I was devastated." said Scott Vannatta, Sunflower Community Action member. "This agreement will help immensely."

Although a victory, some families didn't apply to the settlement and many more are still dealing with foreclosures.

On March 2002, Sunflower Community Action negotiated another plan with Conseco Finance for those families:

· Conseco will renegotiate borrowers loan contracts in designated Kansas' cities
· Of those contracts, a 12 month moratorium for families who have existing foreclosures
· Conseco will include a statement in both Spanish and English that stands out on their monthly payment coupon informing consumers if they were being treated unfairly and unjustly to call Conseco's toll free number.
· Conseco will submit a confirmation number to consumers when they withdraw money out of the consumer's bank account.
· Education grant to Sunflower Community Action to further educating homeowners on better lending practices.

Sunflower Community Action will continue to meet and monitor Conseco's activities and seek out other lending companies who practice bad lending to their consumers in Kansas.

"I'm very pleased and happy with what we've done and look forward to our relationship with Conseco Finance, however we will continue to watch Conseco closely to make sure that future homeowners will not be ripped off," said Rickie Coleman, Sunflower Community Action member.