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De Blasio calls for probe of taxi lenders
▻https://nypost.com/2019/05/20/de-blasio-calls-for-probe-of-taxi-lenders-following-predatory-loan-report
▻https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/de-blasio-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200

May 20, 2019 - Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a probe Monday of the city taxi market following a damning report that claimed industry leaders duped drivers with predatory loans and artificially inflated the costs of cab medallions for years– leading to their eventual collapse.

“Today I ordered a joint investigation by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Department of Finance and Department of Consumer Affairs into predatory practices by brokers in the taxi industry,” the mayor said in a statement.

The 45-day review will identify and penalize brokers who have taken advantage of buyers and misled city authorities, the mayor said.

The New York Times reported Sunday that brokers shopped exploitative loans to cash-strapped, often immigrant drivers who were crushed by hefty monthly fees.

De Blasio said the review will set new rules to prevent future abuses.

“It’s unacceptable to prey on hardworking New Yorkers trying to support their families and we’ll do all that we can to put an end to it,” he said.

The deep decrease in medallion values from a high of $1.3 million in 2013 to just $250,000 last year is also due to the flood of Uber and Lyft cars into the market.

#USA #New_York #Taxi #Betrug #Ausbeutung

Bad loans were killing the taxi industry long before Uber and Lyft: report
▻https://nypost.com/2019/05/19/bad-loans-were-killing-the-taxi-industry-long-before-uber-and-lyft-report
▻https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/taxi-medallions-loans.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200

The financial woes of the city taxi market may not be entirely the fault of ride-hailing companies — the industry was a house of cards waiting to collapse, a report says.

An investigation by the New York Times Sunday put the blame on industry leaders who artificially inflated taxi medallions costs fivefold over 12 years and created a massively profitable loan market built on questionable lending practices similar to those at the center of the housing crash.

In 2013, a taxi medallion fetched $1.3 million, but by last year, the market had plunged and medallions were selling for less than $250,000.

While much of the decline in value can be attributed to the flood of Uber and Lyft drivers, the report says exploitative loans, hundreds of which were interest-only, strapped drivers, often immigrants and unclear on the terms, with hefty monthly costs.

The report says some loan costs became so steep, there weren’t enough hours in a week to drive to make a profit and eventually, all of their monthly fares went to pay the loans.

When the market bottomed out in 2014, the head of the Progressive Credit Union, Robert Familan, made nearly $35 million from his medallion loan non-profit company.

Employees were encouraged to give out shaky loans with bonuses and trips, the report says.

The lenders denied any wrongdoing and the former chairwoman of the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission said it wasn’t the commission’s job to regulate the lending, the report says.

But Meera Joshi did tell the paper “lots of people just watched it happen.”

#USA #New_York #Taxi #Betrug #Ausbeutung