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  • How One Obscure Regulator Is Unleashing a Predatory Lending Hellscape

    Thomas J. Curry has only one week left as Comptroller of the Currency. But America’s chief regulator of national banks isn’t acting like it. Despite intense opposition from community advocates and conservatives alike, Curry, an Obama appointee, is doubling down on an ill-advised plan that would allow online lenders and other so-called fintech firms to…

  • Asleep at the Wheel: Why Does New York Let Car Insurance Companies Discriminate Against Drivers?

    Car insurance is unaffordable to 5.2 million New Yorkers, according to a report just issued by the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO). But car insurance is not only expensive for New Yorkers – its pricing is also fundamentally discriminatory. That’s because New York allows car insurance companies to consider factors like a person’s education…

  • NYC Seniors, Know Your Rights!

    Here at New Economy Project we continue to actively reach out to senior organizations throughout New York City to raise awareness of unjust financial practices that affect low-income immigrant seniors and seniors of color, in particular. Our presentations provide seniors with vital know-your-rights information and tools to fight back, and we encourage them to call…

  • WTFargo: How Bad Does a Bank Have to Be?

    Yet another scandal may soon rock Wells Fargo. According to informed sources, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) — the federal agency that oversees Wells Fargo and the other large, national banks — is set to downgrade Wells Fargo’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rating sometime this month.

  • A Simple, Powerful Premise

    Expensive. Unsustainable. Exploitative. This is how community organizers and advocates described the NYC housing market, at “Community Land Trusts: Organizing for Community Control,” the final installment of our 20th Anniversary Workshop Series. The workshop built on themes explored in the previous four sessions – from new economy organizing to shareholder action and community-led research –…

  • Does This Sound Like Justice?

    You’ve just been robbed. Worse yet, you know who did it. It was the last few dollars to your name and you don’t get paid for another month. Three weeks pass, and an envelope containing the stolen money appears on your doorstep. You go to court to demand justice, but the judge rules that no…

  • The World We Want to See

    Like you, we are stunned and alarmed by the outcome of the election, and the consequences yet to come. The ground has shifted in fundamental and frightening ways. Years of hard-won gains are sure to come under assault, and organizations like ours will have to come together like never before to defend programs, policies and…

  • The Washington Post: Here’s What Happens When Payday Loans are Banned

    Today’s The Washington Post features an Op-Ed by New Economy Project’s co-director Deyanira Del Rio and campaigns coordinator Andy Morrison: “Here’s What Happens When Payday Loans are Banned.” New York is one of 14 states that, along with D.C., maintain strong usury (interest rate) caps that effectively ban payday lending. It’s a swath of the…

  • New Economy Project and Allies Go to DC to Demand Strong Payday Lending Rule

    A coalition of two dozen faith leaders, and labor, civil rights, and community groups from states that ban payday lending hand-delivered strongly-worded letters to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray on Wednesday, calling on the federal agency to “use its full authority” to crack down on predatory payday lending.

  • Hey OCC: You Don’t Write, You Don’t Call…

    Last November, New Economy Project and 15 social justice organizations filed a detailed letter with the OCC, JPMorgan Chase’s banking regulator, calling on the agency to give Chase a failing grade on its community reinvestment exam. It’s been four months, and still no reply.