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Class-Action Suit Alleges Low-Income Homeowners Targeted For Deceptive PACE Loans - YouTube
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well as kpix 5 first reported a
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green energy program that targets
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low-income homeowners
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continues to leave a trail of financial
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hardships and
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foreclosures in its wake in our original
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series project home suzy steimle has an
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exclusive interview
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with the state agency tasked to oversee
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the troubled program
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i definitely think that we've seen some
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predatory behavior maria luisa cesar is
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a commissioner with the department of
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financial protection
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and innovation the agency tasked to
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oversee california's so-called pace
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program
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that stands for property assessed clean
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energy we've seen the program
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mischaracterized as a free government
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program which it's not
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we've seen instances where documents
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have been
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forged and we've also seen companies
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utilize these deceptive practices and
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target
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immigrant and non-english speaking
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communities
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like gloria sanchez it all started with
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a call
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in a class action lawsuit she claims she
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was hammered with calls and text
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messages
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from a pace solicitor called guarantia
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solar
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she says the salesperson told her a
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program created by former president
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obama
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required homeowners to have solar panels
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installed on their property by 2020
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and she could do it for no money down
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and just eight hundred dollars
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more a year on her property taxes
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practically the panels would be free but
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when she went to refinance her home
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a shock a tax lien on her property for
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almost
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thirteen thousand dollars placed by a
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company called pace funding group
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that had to be paid off first not only
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that
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she says the panels don't seem to be
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working and her pg e bill
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has not gone down and mi
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on my pg e bill i don't see savings
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it's the same as before gloria signed
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her loan in 2018
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and that's after a new law went into
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effect requiring that program
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administrators
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like pace funding talk to homeowners and
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make sure that they understand the terms
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of the contract
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and that they have the ability to pay
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and since then even more consumer
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protections have been put in place
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but critics say it's still not enough
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one of the big problems with these pace
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loans
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is that they're really targeted at
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people who are house rich but cash poor
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joe jaramillo is an attorney with
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housing and economic rights action
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a non-profit that helps low-income
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californians with financial problems
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he says complaints about pace loans come
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in all the time
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so the standard being used to assess
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ability to repay
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if it's being used at all is is really
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not protecting the consumer in many
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cases
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he's co-counseling gloria's class action
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lawsuit that accuses multiple players
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involved of fraud and negligence
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he says one of the biggest problems
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continues to be the electronic signing
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process for the financing contract the
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electronic signature
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system is just too easy for the
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contractor
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sales person to manipulate or pressure
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them
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into signing documents that either they
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can't understand because it's on a
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little
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cell phone screen or it's not in the
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language that that they understand
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gloria says that's what happened to her
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in los angeles they were in la they told
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me
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but we can do it by signing on the phone
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that is how i fell in the trap signing
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over the phone
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we reached out to pace funding group the
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program administer based in los gatos
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that put the tax lien on gloria's home
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to date they have not returned our calls
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or emails
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guarantee the solicitor that talked
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gloria into signing the pace loan
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did not have a contractor's license at
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the time as required by law
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it appears to no longer be in business
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gloria's contractor complete solar based
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in san ramon
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also did not return our calls the
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company is licensed but we discovered
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it's currently under disciplinary order
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for false misleading and deceptive
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advertising
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yet complete solar is still an approved
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pace contractor with dfpi
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i think we have some work to do
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continuing to get resources out to
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community members
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so that they understand what their
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rights are
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and how institutions like the california
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dfpi can offer some protection and some
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redress the agency received
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370 pace-related complaints since it
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took on oversight in 2019.
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78 of them specifically regarding the
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pace funding group
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but so far dfpi has only taken
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administrative action
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three times involving other companies i
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think the reality is
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is that in any industry you're gonna
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have bad actors
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and we are trying to as the state
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financial regulator
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root out those bad actors as quickly as
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possible
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so gloria's class action lawsuit alleges
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that spanish-speaking homeowners are
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specifically targeted for these types of
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loans
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it also alleges that guarantee of that
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solicitor that pushed
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her to pick up this loan is still
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operating but just under a different
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name
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they call themselves green day finance
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now ken and julian
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right you had to do so much backtracking
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just to figure out who's responsible so
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how does this financing
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financing actually work who who gets the
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money
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yeah and so that's part of what they say
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might be a problem with this program
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the money goes directly to the
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contractors and it's
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based off of the amount of equity in the
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home so those contractors
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are actually incentivized to push for
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more work and
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max out that loan because again they
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directly benefit from that
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what a racket all right susie thank you
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for that
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and keep sending your stories and ideas
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to project home
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cbs.com and see all of susie's reporting
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on our website
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