<div>Update: New York Times Article:
</div>
<div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/your-money/rent-a-bank-loan-scheme.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1k8.uY4-.ZHuk9zHEpd2z&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/your-money/rent-a-bank-loan-scheme.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1k8.uY4-.ZHuk9zHEpd2z&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare</a>
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<div>Greetings all,
</div>
<div>This is not easy to share this story and ask for help, but we have tried everything in our power and are still going to lose our family home of 58 years.
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<div><br />
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<div>5 years ago (3/20), we were thinking of securing a business loan to help our son with his blossoming business and do renovation work to our family home after my parents passed away. We secured 2 brokers that started the process. During the final stages, COVID became a reality when NYC shut down our family business, and our son had a tonic-clonic seizure (grand mal seizure) and was in the ICU. The brokers, as well as this company (WBL), were relentless to close the deal, and we were unsure of what the outcome would be for our son. We trustingly and blindly accepted the deal since the brokers said that would have us out of it within a year with COVID business incentives.
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<div><br />
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<div>Richie passed away that week we finalized, and over the next few months, we realized that we were in a bad spot with the company, paying them $2,700 a week - YES, A WEEK - with NYC restaurants being shut down. We tried to give the money back but were informed there were massive penalties of nearly 100K, so I got another job to make ends meet as best we could.
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<div>1 year passed, and our interest-only loan jumped to $3,400 a week, so we took business cash advances to try and make ends meet, and I found a 3rd job driving UBER.
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<div><br />
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<div>After the 2nd year, there was a balloon payment of $200,000.00. This is after paying the $240,000 for a 185K loan at 60% interest.
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<div>We told them we could not afford this, and their response was, "If you can't pay, we will take your house." MY house, what do you mean? Well, apparently, we used our family home as collateral.
</div>
<div>Next, we learned that WBL, who we signed the contracts with, used a bank called AXOS in New York so that they can bypass the usury laws.
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<div>The predatory loan they provided is also referred to as RENT-A-BANK. “Rent-a-bank” arrangements are the vehicle of choice for subprime lenders seeking to avoid state consumer protection laws. In a rent-a-bank arrangement, a nonbank lender (WBL) contracts with a bank to make loans per its specifications and then buys the loans from the bank. The nonbank lender then claims to shelter in the bank’s federal statutory exemptions from state regulation.
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<div>They started the foreclosure on our home 3 years ago. We have been battling them in court, but so far, nothing has aided us in keeping our home or stopping them. We have spent well over 40K in legal fees and, at this point, have exhausted all our financial means to keep fighting this huge company. Our NY court system has also sided with this company in an unprecedented timeframe to offer them an auction date even with our appeal in the system.
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<div>As stated, this was my parents' family home, and I was born here 58 years ago. I, along with my wife Amber, have built a new family here with our daughters Heidi and Ariel and, God rest his soul, our son Richie. <strong>I refuse to give up the fight in hopes of keeping our home as well as stopping these companies from being able to do this to other families.</strong>
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<div>The entire family works to try and keep our home and pay our bills. Amber and I work 7 days a week, her at the restaurant and me at my construction business, Uber, and any side jobs I can get my hands on.
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<div>Not just looking for help with money BUT would be very grateful if there are any lawyers out there that would be willing to put fresh eyes on our case in a pro bono situation or possibly a payment plan.
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<div>We have involved state Senators and reached out to the Attorney General but have not gotten any help thus far
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<div>Just to give you perspective -
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<div>We received $185,000 in 2020
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<div>Paid back over $240,000 by 2022
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<div>and now they want an additional $520,000 or the house is theirs.
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<div>Thank you for allowing me to share my story, and any support would be truly appreciated, even if it is just "good luck."
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<div><br />
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<div>Our Court Information
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<div>Index #: 534172/2022
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<div>Caption: AXOS Bank v. Alfred W Urban et al
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<div>eFiling Status: Partial Participation Recorded
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<div>Assigned Case Judge: Lawrence Knipel
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<div>FIled in Supreme Court of New York Kings County
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<div>Thank You,
</div>
<div>The Urban Family
</div>

Jean Ficarra

Deborah Mantell

Andrew Gibbs

Anonymous

Issam Hassan

Theokli Hotzoglou

Anthony Chen

Alan Chan

Dawn Gannon

Arthur Aidala

Michele Soto

Anthony Ieva

Ean Evers

William Gillen

David Mutton

AJ Ceretti

douglass brown

Maureen Spencer

Lynne Olsen-Pagano

Save a family home and FIGHT a Predatory Lending Company

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Enhanced Story Experience Users

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Streaming widgets beta user

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Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

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Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

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fallback mode accounts

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p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

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UKCharities

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route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

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braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

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hasSessionDonation

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isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Save a family home and FIGHT a Predatory Lending Company

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