Pennsylvania pushes home equity investment product regulation

Point emailed customers before a Pennsylvania House hearing to offer gift cards in exchange for testimonials opposing new regulation. The solicitation and resulting testimonials arrived without notice to the committee. Venkat said the actions were intended to mislead committee members and Pennsylvania residents by incentivizing a viewpoint for financial gain. House Bill 2120 would provide consumer protections for homeowners using shared appreciation agreements. The bill would require shared appreciation agreements to receive the same statutory safeguards as other real-estate-secured financial products, including disclosure requirements, foreclosure protections, and remedies for violations. The HEI industry often operates outside state banking regulations because the agreements are not classified as loans under state law.

"The HEI industry largely operates outside state banking regulations because the agreements are not legally classified as loans, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in a report published this week. These products aren't considered loans, Wendy Gilch, a Franklin Park consumer advocate who brought the issue to lawmakers, told the Gazette. They're not written in our laws. They're in this wei"

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