An Ode to Cleveland

By Sarah Byrnes

Cleveland is a city on Lake Erie
The amount of foreclosures there makes me weary
It's a very bad thing
Subprime lenders did bring
But we could fix it if our reps would see clearly!

Okay, so it doesn’t rhyme perfectly. But I do have a soft spot for Cleveland in my heart, which is particularly note-worthy because I grew up 2 ½ hours away in Pittsburgh (we have a die-hard football rivalry).

AFFIL was “born” in Cleveland in 2004, and there are a great group of advocates working to stem the foreclosure crisis there. Ohio as a whole has been aggressive as well—check out this cool settlement where the Ohio AG is making Potbelly Sandwich Works provide 1,600 sandwiches and pay for a Maxed Out screening in exchange for being dropped from a lawsuit. The sandwich chain previously handed out food to get students to sign-up for credit cards. This trinkets-for-debt practice is one AFFIL and PIRG have been working hard to regulate. We don’t begrudge anyone an awesome free sandwich or t-shirt, but we have to say that years of credit card debt are probably not worth it in the long run. See this video and this study for examples of how this trap works.

But back to Cleveland – there’s a free Maxed Out screening there tonight! Register here if you plan to go - space is limited. AFFIL Board member Kathleen Engel will be on the panel discussion after the movie, along with Jim Rokakis, Cuyahoga County Treasurer and Richard Cordray, State Treasurer.