| March-April 2004 | Issue 199 |
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NPA Signs National Agreement with Fairbanks Capital Corporation | |||||||||||||||
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In the Spring of 2003, the East Side Organizing Project began hearing numerous complaints about Fairbanks' loan shark collection practices. When attempts to contact the company directly failed, leaders decided to pay a visit to the Ohio law firm that was issuing out the greatest number of Fairbanks foreclosures. Their goal: to get a meeting with Fairbanks’ top lawyer and stop all Fairbanks foreclosures. Two days after that hit, Fairbanks’ Executive Vice President and General Counsel Greg Harmer met with NPA leaders from the six states hardest hit by their bad practices: Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New York. That meeting took place on June 1, 2003 at last year’s NPA, and kicked off a national campaign to change the way Fairbanks Capital Corporation does business. During this year’s annual conference, Fairbanks signed a national agreement with NPA to correct its mortgage servicing practices and change the way they do business. This partnership came after months of numerous public meetings, heavy media attention and direct negotiations between NPA representatives and top Fairbanks executives – including the President and CEO James Ozanne. “NPA is pleased with Fairbanks' commitment to correct the mistakes they’ve made,” stated NPA Co-Chair Inez Killingsworth, “We look forward to working in partnership.” Last July Fairbanks agreed to use NPA’s “Fairbanks Hot Spot Card” to identify and remedy consumers' disputes associated with the mortgage loans serviced by Fairbanks. For every “Hot Spot” card sent to Fairbanks they agreed to put the foreclosure on hold temporarily, and review the consumers' dispute. This process was the result of outcries from thousands of Fairbanks customers in numerous NPA affiliate cities. Their complaints included but were not limited to misapplication of payments, forced imposition of insurance, excessive fees, harassment and threatening foreclosures. The Card is being used in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Des Moines, Wichita, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Central Illinois. Last October, after a highly publicized meeting in Cleveland, and media pressure in various NPA affiliated cities detailing Fairbanks abuses, NPA obtained a commitment from Fairbanks via a Memorandum of Understanding, to enter into a written partnership that will require company-wide servicing reforms. The first of a series of negotiations meeting was held in December with key leaders, Fairbanks, Ozanne and other key executives. |
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Disclosure
is published by the National Training
and Information Center. 312-243-3035 |
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