MARYLAND CONSUMER RIGHTS COALITION INC
2209 MARYLAND AVE, BALTIMORE, MD 21218 marylandconsumers.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: A statewide coalition of individuals and affiliated organizations that advance consumer rights and financial inclusion through research, education, advocacy, direct service, and community organizing.

SOAR: MCRC?s Securing Older Adult Resources (SOAR) program successfully raised awareness of the Maryland Homeowners' and Renters' Tax Credits through community outreach events and widely distributed PSA and media campaigns. The Tax Credit Hotline (443.961.6220) received 1,788 calls and the website, www.marylandtaxcredit.com, received 14,531 views in 2019. SOAR mailed 176 tax credit applications to Marylanders and completed more than 150 tax credit screenings. Overall, SOAR anticipates returning an average of $481 per renter, totaling $37,815. SOAR also expects to recapture an average of $1,339 per household, totaling $102,325 returned to Maryland homeowners. SOAR also assists older adults in longer-term financial counseling and coaching, providing 220 hours of financial counseling and coaching to 30 clients. In 2019, SOAR recaptured $262,053 for applicants through tax credits and earned benefits application assistance, and overall program ROI is approximately $1:$4.62; for every dollar spent on the program, $4.62 was returned through increased benefits.

OTHER: MCRC submitted comments to the CFPB, drafted a sign-on letter with 26 Maryland organizations signing on, and worked with Maryland legislators on a Dear Colleague letter signed by 35 Marylad delegates and senators calling for a strong debt collection rule that would protect consumers, not debt collectors. In 2019 MCRC supported permanently ensuring that any mortgage debt forgiven in a foreclosure sale does not count as income on Maryland state taxes, allowing families to access tax credits that they may otherwise fail to qualify for, and saving an average of $1,114 in taxes for the 72,892 homeowners currently underwater on their mortgages in Maryland should they lose their homes in foreclosure. MCRC's Report, No Exit: How Maryland?s Debt Collection Practices Deepen Poverty & Widen the Racial Wealth Gap, is the first state-level report looking at consumer debt collection practices, the use of debtors prisons, and civic debt. The report highlights Maryland policies that punish the poor and raise revenues on the backs of low-income Marylanders. No Exit provides an analysis of how debt collection practices disproportionately impact Black borrowers across the state and widen the racial wealth gap. MCRC is pursuing a number of policy recommendations in our report at the local and state levels.

CRA: MCRC partnered with NCRC and advocates in other states to win a $60 billion Community Benefits Agreement with Truist across the 18 states where the bank has its footprint. MCRC held a series of meetings with CDFI leaders, civil rights advocates, and neighborhood leaders to develop priorities for Baltimore. Many of the Baltimore group?s priorities were included in the final agreement. MCRC launched Reinvest Baltimore - a coalition of Baltimore neighborhood leaders, CDFI directors, housing counselors, lawyers, and others who are working together to catalyze bank investments in mortgage and small business lending in Black and traditionally disinvested neighborhoods. Reinvest Baltimore will meet with bank officers, develop market-based analyses of mortgage and credit needs in neighborhoods, and work to leverage meaningful investments that will promote equitable growth throughout Baltimore. There were 18 members of Reinvest Baltimore in 2019.

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