[Occupymendocino] [Fwd: Signature needed: Investigate predatory lending by Warren Buffett's company]

agnes at mcn.org agnes at mcn.org
Mon Jan 25 15:40:54 PST 2016 

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Signature needed: Investigate predatory lending by Warren
Buffett's company
From:    "Murshed Zaheed, CREDO Action" <act at credoaction.com>
Date:    Mon, January 25, 2016 6:42 am

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      [1]Tell financial cops: Investigate predatory lending by Warren Buffett
   company

   Petition to the Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection
   Bureau:
   "Investigate and punish Warren Buffett’s Cayton Homes, Inc. for its
   history of racist, predatory lending."

   Add your name:

   [2]Sign the petition â–º

   Dear Agnes,

                                                   [3][IMG]

   Warren Buffett has built a folksy, populist public image, but one of his
   companies has been exploiting people with deceptive sales and predatory
   loans. A breathtaking investigative report reveals that Clayton Homes,
   Inc. has been deliberately pushing minorities into high-priced loans,
   costing people their livelihoods and even their homes.^1

   The report claims that Clayton, which is owned by Buffett’s Berkshire
   Hathaway, misleads consumers about their lending options, charges
   African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans higher interest rates,
   and tricks them into signing loan documents that don’t match the terms
   they were promised. It also details a shockingly racist corporate culture
   that included throwing racist stereotypes at borrowers, tolerating racial
   slurs, and firing Black workers who complained.^2

   A group of progressive champions in Congress, including Reps. Maxine
   Waters and Keith Ellison, is jumping into action.^3 They have demanded
   that the Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection
   Bureau explain what they are doing to stop and punish this racist
   exploitation, and we need to show that thousands of Americans stand with
   them and with Clayton’s victims.

   [4]Tell financial cops: Investigate predatory lending by Warren Buffett
   company. Click here to sign the petition.

   Warren Buffett bought Clayton 12 years ago. In the years since, it has
   become the single biggest homebuilder in the United State, and the biggest
   in the manufactured home business. Its in-house mortgage lender,
   Vanderbilt, finances more loans than any other lender by far. As the
   company has increasingly come under fire for its debt collection tactics
   – including harassing borrowers, insulting them, and encouraging them to
   sell blood to pay debts – Warren Buffett has personally promoted Clayton
   and defended it from criticism.^4

   But if reports are true, at least some of what Clayton has done “was
   illegal.”^5 The company has been accused of:

       * Charging minorities higher rates. Latino, African-American, and
         Native American borrowers are charged higher interest rates than
         white borrowers. The trend is true even when income is factored in.
         In fact, “Vanderbilt typically charges black people who make over
         $75,000 a year slightly more than white people who make only
         $35,000.”^6
       * Tricking people into taking out loans from its own company. Clayton
         gets away with charging more in part because its salespeople tell
         customers that the company’s in-house lender, Vanderbilt, is their
         only option – in violation of federal law. In fact, the company
         internally tracks the “capture rate” of customers forced into
         Vanderbilt loans, and uses it to evaluate the performance of
         dealerships.^7
       * Rushing people into signing rotten documents without translation.
         Clayton advertises itself as friendly to Spanish and other
         non-English speakers, with spokespeople who promise friendly terms
         in customers’ native languages. But when it comes time to sign,
         the company presents documents in English – over the objection of
         some of its employees – and the incomprehensible loan papers can
         spell out terms that are far more expensive than what the customer
         was promised.^8

   Clayton sells its homes at such an outrageous markup that it still makes
   money even if borrowers are unable to pay and quickly default.^9 The
   Americans who buy homes from Clayton can end up paying more than is fair,
   trapped in debt, and losing their homes and life savings in the process.
   That’s no way to treat people who have worked hard and saved for a home
   of their own, and we need to stand with the progressive champions in
   Congress who are fighting back.

   [5]Tell financial cops: Investigate predatory lending by Warren Buffett
   company. Click here to sign the petition.

   Buffett’s company has attacked the investigative report, issuing a long
   list of misleading rebuttals that do not match the fact reported. It even
   claimed that its salespeople never insist that Vanderbilt is the only
   financing option available, despite the reporters catching salespeople on
   tape doing just that. The reporters responded in detail, noting how they
   company is trying to massage the numbers to save its image.^10

   If the company is taking the same deceptive stance to questions from
   regulators, it will take political pressure to force the Department of
   Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to hold Clayton’s
   feet to the fire and bring down punishments for lawbreaking. That’s
   where we come in – we need to show that we stand with the progressive
   members of the House who are speaking up.

   Tell financial cops: Investigate predatory lending by Warren Buffett
   company. Click below to sign the petition:

   [6]http://act.credoaction.com/sign/Buffett_Clayton?t=1001&akid=16610.23357.5NL9Tb

   Thank you for speaking out,

   Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director
   [7]CREDO Action from Working Assets

   Add your name:

   [8]Sign the petition â–º

    1. Mike Baker and Daniel Wagner, “[9]Minorities exploited by Warren
       Buffett’s mobile-home empire,” The Seattle Times / BuzzFeed News,
       December 26, 2015.
    2. Baker and Wagner, “[10]Minorities exploited by Warren Buffett’s
       mobile-home empire.”
    3. Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Keith Ellison, et. al., “[11]Letter to
       Attorney General Lynch and Director Cordray,” House Financial
       Services Democrats, January 12, 2016.
    4. Baker and Wagner, “[12]Minorities exploited by Warren Buffett’s
       mobile-home empire.”
    5. Ibid.
    6. Ibid.
    7. Ibid.
    8. Ibid.
    9. Ibid.
   10. Mike Baker and Daniel Wagner, “[13]Warren Buffett’s mobile-home
       company denies discriminating against minorities,” The Seattle Times
       / BuzzFeed News, January 11, 2016.

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References

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