Provides that a lien filed by the crime victim's board shall have no negative impact on the victim's consumer credit rating or application for credit

Title of bill

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting any negative impact on a crime victim's credit rating from a lien created under section 634 of such law

Purpose or general idea of bill

To prevent creditors from discriminating against applicants based on a crime victim's board lien created under §634 of the executive law.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 amends subdivision 2 of §634 of the executive law, by adding a clause which stipulates that a lien filed under that section shall not be included in any complication of a victim's consumer credit report or mortgage eligibility.

Existing law

Existing law creates a lien for the amount the board pays in any claim. Lien notices are filed with county clerk offices. These liens, unless satisfied, exist in perpetuity.

Section 1 amends subdivision 2 of 8634 of the executive law, which stipulates that a lien filed under that section shall not be included in any complication of a victim's consumer credit report or mortgage eligibility.

Justification

When a crime victim receives an award from the Crime Victim's Board (CVB), a lien is created under Section 634 of the executive law and filed by the board in county clerk's offices statewide. This lien is put in place in order to ensure that any award collected by a crime victim from their attacker first goes toward repaying the CVB award, so that a victim does not collect twice for the same incident. The lien exists in perpetuity unless it is satisfied. The placing of this lien has an unintentional negative impact on the credit rating and ability to obtain a mortgage of crime victims that have received awards from the CVB.

Since a relatively small number of crime victims are able to bring a successful lawsuit against their attackers, most liens continue to remain in the county clerk's offices and are never relinquished. Banks and title insurance companies will often misidentify these liens and conclude that they are liens on real property. The board gets regular calls from crime victims trying to sell property or take out loans on property they own. Banks have regularly told crime victims that they cannot complete the transaction until they "take care" of the lien on their property. While the situation is normally resolved with a letter from the board, it is an unnecessary irritation to former crime victims and serves no rational purpose.

Further, it is an irritation that currently must exist for the claimant's lifetime, and beyond. This bill would clearly identify the lien as a crime victim's board lien and state that no party may discriminate on the basis of such a lien.

Prior legislative history

2005-06 A.1171-A - Referred to Governmental Operations/S3126-A -Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction 2003-04: A.3099 - Referred to Governmental Operations 2001-02: A.2560 - Referred to Governmental Operations S.547 of 2007/2008

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.