Fighting Predatory Lending

"From being a victim to being a fighter"

"Today’s settlement sends a powerful message: predatory lending and housing scams will not be tolerated in Connecticut."

    - Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

One day an immigrant parishioner came to his minister with a tragic story.  He had been offered a wonderful mortgage to realize his family’s dream and buy a home, but the home turned out to be beyond repair, and meanwhile the variable monthly payments kept going up and up.  He was about to lose the house and face financial ruin and homelessness. 

The minister took the problem to the NVP, which soon discovered that this was not an isolated phenomenon but an emerging pattern of what is now notorious as “predatory lending.” 

The NVP brought together a group of victims and clergy who together brought the problem of predatory lending out of the shadows.  Ultimately they drew the attorney general of Connecticut into their campaign, provided the information for suits against the region’s worst predatory lenders, and won a $750,000 settlement on behalf of 19 home buyers brought to him by the NVP.