Virginia Public Radio | RADIO IQ
By Michael Pope, May 22nd, 2024
Predatory probate lending bill to become a law this summer
Imagine the scenario: One of your relatives dies, and you’re in grief. Then you get a notice in the mail offering to give you an advance sum of cash based on the inheritance. The envelope looks like it comes from a court, and it’s unclear how much this company is going to charge.
“You may be struggling to figure out how to pay for the funeral, how to pay final bills at a hospital,” says Delegate Carrie Coyner, a Republican from Chesterfield County. “This can be a very tempting way that you think you’re going to have access to funds. But it really takes advantage of folks in one of the hardest moments of their life.”
Jay Speer at the Virginia Poverty Law Center says these companies try to claim that the money is not a loan. “Whenever somebody gives you money, and you are expected to pay it back, that’s a loan,” explains Speer. “If somebody gives you money and they don’t expect you to pay it back, that’s a gift. But this business of trying to claim it’s something other than a loan is becoming somewhat epidemic.”
Carrie Coyner has introduced a bill that will regulate these loans and make the companies get a license to offer them…
Michael Pope is an author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria. This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
