A00637 Summary:

BILL NO    A00637 

SAME AS    Same as S 4893

SPONSOR    Dinowitz (MS)

COSPNSR    

MLTSPNSR   

Amd S634, Exec L

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.

A00637 Actions:

BILL NO    A00637 

01/07/2009 referred to governmental operations
01/06/2010 referred to governmental operations

A00637 Votes:

A00637 Memo:

 BILL NUMBER:  A637

 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 Section 634 of the executive
law.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

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 S 634 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 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 :

2007-08- A.363- Referred to Governmental Operations/S.547- Passed
Senate 2005-06- A.1171-A- Referred to Governmental Operations/
S.2126-A- Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction 2003-04-
A.3099- Referred to Governmental Operations 2001-02- A.2560- Referred
to Governmental Operations

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.