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Help For A Bad Loan

If you think you have been a victim of predatory lending, there are organizations that might be able to help you.

AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) has a wealth of information about housing on its Web site. If you are specifically interested in finding out about predatory lending, a good place to start is Avoid Predatory Lenders.

According to AARP, among the states, North Carolina was the first to enact a comprehensive predatory lending law, which prohibits such practices as lending without consumer counseling and lending without regard to the borrower's ability to repay the loan. It also limits the financing of loan fees as a part of the amount of the loan. The District of Columbia also recently approved legislation.

AARP supported those law and is working with other consumer advocates to develop model state legislation that is similar to North Carolina's law. Legislation is under consideration in at least a dozen other states.

AARP has embarked upon a national state-based campaign against predatory mortgage lending. So far, campaigns have been launched in New York, California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and the District of Columbia.

Another possible source of help is the Predatory Lending Task Force of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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