TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – New safeguards are now in place to protect consumers applying for clean energy home improvement loans in Florida, but some legislators claim they are still not enough.
News 6 has investigated Property Assessed Clean Energy Loans – PACE loans – since last year.
The loans are often attractive to homeowners with poor credit who are looking for upgrades, such as new air conditioners, new roofs and new insulation.
The payments are made one time each year as an addition to the homeowner’s property tax bill — adding an average of $1,500 to that payment.
News 6 exposed some of the problems homeowners are facing after they sign on the dotted line.
One woman in Orlando, who was able to acquire her home with the assistance of Habitat for Humanity, said she did not realize the payments were made once a year — assessed with her property taxes.
She said the large payment was surprising, and she was in danger of losing her home.
A News 6 viewer stepped in and paid off her entire loan.
Another couple in Brevard County have two liens on their property now after their PACE lender pulled out of the state after they had their air conditioner installed.
The project was not fully funded, and they owed more than $7,000 until News 6 got results for them.
SB 770 was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday and it took effect on Monday.
It rewrites the Florida Statute that created PACE funding, creating new safeguards to protect homeowners and financial institutions:
- Total loan amount cannot exceed more than 20% of just value of the property
- Property taxes and mortgage debt must be current
- No outstanding fines or liens or default
- No bankruptcy within the last five years
- No home equity or reverse mortgages
- Term of mortgage cannot exceed life expectancy of appliance (not to exceed 20 years)
- If project costs more than $10,000, homeowner must be encouraged to get price quotes from two unaffiliated contractors
- Funders must be able to show the homeowner can repay the loan
- Mandated phone calls with customers confirming what they are getting into
- Prior to disbursement, funders need to confirm all work has been completed
- Funders must post reports on their websites showing how much they’ve lent, and how many complaints they have received
“There has been a lot of predatory lending, where we have caught this niche of folks that are poor, and we continue to make poor people poorer,” said State Rep. Dana Trabulsy, R-Port St. Lucie, during a committee meeting on the bill earlier this year in Tallahassee. ”That’s what this bill aims to address in providing a lot of consumer protections around the financing that we’re offering to homeowners.”
State Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Ft. Myers, authored the companion bill, SB 770, in the state senate.
“From what we all know about the PACE program, what we’ve seen on TV, this bill greatly improves the consumer protections, and it greatly improves the program,” he told a separate committee.
Both legislators conceded more needs to be done to protect consumers, but they said this piece of legislation was a start.
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