2023 New York Public Radio. The tumultuous state of the medallion can be traced back to its artificial inflation. Lenders are getting more and more tough nevertheless this option should be fully explored. The ride-hail apps have upended all that. The breaking point came in 2013-2014. Solutions for NYC's Taxi Medallion Owners - JCKLAW In 2009, after years of penny crunching, he was able to buy his first medallion. Her husband died and left her a medallion. 'They stole from us': the New York taxi drivers mired in debt over Now, Nitescu is left with nothing but the medallion and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Action Alerts PLUS is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc. ordered seizure of the 89 NYC taxi medallions, erosion in yellow taxi trips and meter revenue, documents filed with the New York County Clerk, worse medallion market conditions in Chicago. This is perfect for attorneys licensed in multiple jurisdictions or for attorneys that have fulfilled their CLE requirement but need to access resourceful information for their practice areas. Other measures have also failed. Despite all the various actions, cab drivers pleas seemed to continue to go unanswered. WORKOUTS: Negotiate a modification of the loan to lower the monthly payments and deal with arrears to make the loan current. Schumer credited that reporting with highlighting the plight of medallion owners who were facing foreclosure on the once-prized piece of metal on taxi hoods that allows drivers to pick up street hails. What happens after I schedule a legal services appointment with the TLC Owner/Driver Resource Center? Auction Location: New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott Hotel, 102-05 Ditmars Boulevard, East Elmhurst, NY 11369. Once seen as a valuable asset that secured a comfortable retirement, the medallions worth has plummeted, leaving the thousands of drivers who purchased a medallion in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and financially ruined. Her only way to make money off of the medallion is to buy a car and lease it to a taxi driver, but she said she cannot afford it. Tuncel wants his medallion returned, his loan restructured, and to get back to driving the public. Call (718) 340-3385 now to schedule a free consultation with our knowledgeable NYC taxi medallion bankruptcy lawyer at the Law Office of Seni Popat, P.C. After the mayor announced the deal with the NYTWA, triumphantly, President Desa declared the taxi medallion crisis over. Phone (516) 349-7022 Fax (516) 349-0105. Nobodys entirely happy with the end result. Private lenders (Rapid Funding, Medallion Funding, Melrose Credit Union, Banco Popular, LOMTO, First Jersey Credit Union, and Capital One Equipment Finance) were financing medallion purchases at up to 80-90% loan to value. By the mid-2000s, medallions sold for between $400,000 and $500,000. The City also manipulated public medallion price data. Smartphones were an easy replacement for street hails. In April 2022, reported medallion sales prices averaged $144,490.74, which represents a 77% increase in prices from July 2021. How do I connect with my legal services representative? As he describes it, the ballroom was packed with over 100 interested cab drivers, all eager to learn as much as they could. I want to fix my life. Taxi Medallion Owners Hail Win in Fight Against Holdout Loan Firm, https://www.thecity.nyc/economy/2022/2/20/22941508/hundreds-of-taxi-medallions-repossessed-despite-rescue-deal-that-ended-hunger-strike. To stay afloat,Gysato had to cut corners to survive. And many owners, who have retired from driving, have to go back on the road. Customer Service| When Partap Singh bought a taxi medallion a permit to independently operate a cab in New York City in 1993, he thought he'd struck gold. Many lenders are filing foreclosure actions to foreclosure on the taxi medallions. Taxi Medallion Owners Hail Win in Fight Against Holdout Loan Firm I have a home. Copyright 2023 ALM Global, LLC. This is what I believe., NYC Yellow Taxi Medallion Crisis, Explained. If you are assisting an eligible medallion owner, please ask them to use their TLC License Number, ZIP code, and the last five digits of their social security number or EIN, to sign up for a legal services appointment with the, If you need additional assistance, please email, If you were already assigned a legal services representative and need help contacting them, please email, If you are a TLC-Licensed Driver or own six or more medallions and need financial guidance, Schedule a financial counseling appointment with the. However, big changes that impact an individuals life must be addressed and possible solutions, under the law, fully explored. In this spirit, JCKLAW has represented many medallion owners over the years. Nowhere is the crisis more dire than in New York, which has the largest taxi fleet in the country. For many drivers like Victor Salazar, who spent so many countless grueling hours behind the wheel of their cabs and barely getting by, the opportunity to be an owner of their own business was too good of any opportunity to pass up. Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided. Over the last several months, taxi advocates have worked with City Council members on the bailout plan. A Greenwich hedge fund is behind the mysterious buyer of the NYC 'Taxi King's' medallions. (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press). NYC Yellow Taxicabs - The Road Ahead! - Black Car News For questions, or to start a transfer email the the Medallion Transfer Unit at MedTransfer2@tlc.nyc.gov. By 2015, after Uber, the last payment he gave me was about $1,200, he said. Erhan Tuncel, 61, obtained his taxi license in 1998 and purchased his medallion in 1999. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. Celestin, who bought a taxi medallion in 1983 for $74,000, thought it was safe to borrow money against its growing value. Cab owner Sunil Kaushik told THE CITY he has been fighting in court to get back his medallion that was repossessed last year. They stole everything from him.. Photograph: Ismail Ferdous/The Guardian, They stole from us: the New York taxi drivers mired in debt over medallions. David A. Constantino, Auctioneer. Surrender your medallion and make monthly payments up to the amount of non-exempt assets. The rules that the Commission is seeking to amend are contained within Chapters 58 and 82 of Title 35 of the Rules of the City of New York. We went from eating three times a day to only two times. The Law Office of John C. Kim, P.C. Here are some of their stories. The bank still has a lien on the medallion, but as long as the plan is approved by the chapter 13 trustee and confirmed by the judge if you make your payments you will get to keep your medallion. It is not scalable. Cab operators can't sue New York City over Uber, Lyft impact on license but this is even a more trickier maneuver and can become very complicated. If a medallion is not sold yet, they will get theirs back, Desai said. NYC Medallion Values Are Plummeting | Fox Business If a loan payment is too large, no matter how many hours a car is on the road, a point comes where a medallion can no longer generate a profit. Got a tip? I told them I couldnt do it so they came and took the medallion. New York City taxi drivers who owntaxi medallions that are underwater can cram down the taxi medallion loan so that the only the portion of the taxi medallion loan equal the value of the taxi medallion. Over the same time span, as a record number of cabbies lost their grip on their medallions, Uber and Lyft hollowed out the foundation of the yellow cab industry by siphoning off their riders. Technology-based services cut deep into the Yellow Taxi market. We can stop that. City Council members on Friday are expected to release a plan to bail out cabbies who are in debt. As such, lenders are trending to fewer medallion seizures undoubtedly a sign that the lender recognizes there are not enough buyers to resell them to and that it makes more sense to go after whatever else the borrower owns, usually a hard, fixed asset like the home they live in. Candidates must have general We are seeking an attorney to join our commercial finance practice in either our Stamford, Hartford or New Haven offices. After this step, you will be placed in the queue to be connected with a law firm that has been hired to provide you with free legal guidance and who will negotiate with your lender. Medallion brokers often arrange for sales . About Us| They stole from us.. The industry-leading media platform offering competitive intelligence to prepare for today and anticipate opportunities for future success. Debt in the water: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy must agree to raise the borrowing limit of the U.S. Those who had them took pride in them, and viewed them as their retirement fund. NYC caps taxi medallion debts at $170K after driver hunger strike Owners and Lenders are now left to fend for themselves. On top of this, I have rent. Even if these owners sell their medallions, they still owe hundreds of thousands of dollars far more than in many other cities where medallion prices were lower to begin with. Yellow cabs would also have to be made more comfortable for riders, he says. The lenders (ironically, all in conservatorship) are now suing medallion owners first and asking questions later. Gothamist is a website about New York City news, arts, events and food, brought to you by New York Public Radio. Where can I get help? We are continuing to encourage all lenders to participate so we can ensure that medallion owners in financial distress get real debt forgiveness., In a statement confirming its participation in the debt-relief program, OBrien-Staley Partners said it looks forward to the stability this agreement will bring., Its hard for any business to pre-commit to something that doesnt exist yet without seeing the written details, OBrien said in the statement. Finally, even if you are still above the debt limits, there may be options in filing consecutive chapters in bankruptcy a chapter 7 and then a chapter 13 (a chapter 20!) Since 2011, yellow taxi revenues have dropped by more than 30%. He even cut my sheets and said, Dont worry, well replace that, Nitescu said. Sign up and get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to your inbox each morning. Drivers will no longer be at risk of losing their homes, and no longer be held captive to a debt beyond their lifetime, said NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. By the mid-2000s, medallions sold for between $400,000 and $500,000. On March 17, the TLC authorized the followup taxi medallion debt relief program. The yellow cab ridership plunge accelerated in 2015, when Mayor de Blasio gave in to intense lobbying by Uber and abandoned a plan to limit the number of app-based for-hire vehicles allowed to operate in the city. Uber and Lyfts growth in New York City has mowed down the value of yellow taxi medallions destroying an investment that cabbies and cab operators once saw as solid as a bar of gold. 2023 TheStreet, Inc. All rights reserved. Medallions now sell for a fraction of what they were worth. . The steep drop in ridership also explains why medallion prices have plunged from around $1 million before Uber and Lyft arrived in 2013 and 2014 to between $120,000 and $130,000 today. This means that its value, for lending purposes, is made up of two factors the income that can be generated by drivers and market conditions. Law.com Compass delivers you the full scope of information, from the rankings of the Am Law 200 and NLJ 500 to intricate details and comparisons of firms financials, staffing, clients, news and events. Each attorney is granted unlimited access to high quality, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry along with administrative access to easily manage CLE for the entire team. For over a month the drivers endured weeks of drastic fluctuations of heat, cold, and rain that have become a common part of the Citys chaotic autumn weather. E. Gerald OBrien, CEO of OBrien-Staley Partners, last Friday responded with a letter to Schumers office explaining that the firm was working in good faith to resolve a very challenging situation for the medallion owners.. Lastly, the legal representative will submit all necessary documents to the TLC for your MRP application. The MTA isnt going along with Elon Musks new price tag for access, leaving some straphangers without the social media information source on their daily commutes. I feel sorry for myself. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible. A group of yellow cab owners has spent years trying to sue the city for failing to act in good faith when auctioning off medallions permits that allow taxis to operate in 2013, just as app-based ride-sharing services started to take off in the city. A mysterious hedge fund just scooped up the foreclosed medallions from New York City's 'Taxi King'. Her husband, a former taxi driver, died in 2018, but she must still pay the $200,000 loan on his medallion since the broker listed her as a co-debtor. The mayors announcement served as a slap in the face the NYTWA who had been demanding that the de Blasio administration support their own, more equitable, Medallion Debt Forgiveness plan which called for the City to guarantee the medallion loans, cap drivers debt to no more than $145,000, and maximum monthly payments of $800 as well as the restitution of all foreclosed medallions to their owners. Our Team Account subscription service is for legal teams of four or more attorneys. Through almost their entire history, taxi medallions were a sound investment that increased in value. And we see, I think weve got already over a hundred drivers have signed up and theres a thousand in the pipeline. How Covid exacerbated NYC taxi drivers' long-standing debt from In a statement, Nick Paolucci, a spokesperson for the citys Law Department, said the courts ruling rightly recognized the taxi owners couldnt sue. NYC taxi owners lose court battle over Uber, Lyft expansion Nevertheless, with the pandemic putting the final nail in the coffin of whatever was left of the yellow cab industry, in September, the City was finally forced to respond. Traditionally, yellow taxi have served as the international icon of New York City and its drivers are often been viewed as the citys unofficial ambassadors.