Former Advocacy Director for Georgia AARP
Kathy Floyd discusses her experience working on anti-predatory lending policies in Georgia leading up to the financial crisis as advocacy director of the Georgia American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Floyd details how she spearheaded anti-predatory lending focus groups and education and advocacy campaigns for the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Floyd also discusses how the result of the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial election caused the rollback of the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Floyd describes subsequent attempts to pass anti-predatory lending legislations in Georgia and how Georgia and North Carolina compared in their respective efforts.
Date Recorded:
November 19, 2021
Interviewed by:
Sam Wolter
Kathy Floyd is the former Advocacy Director for the Georgia AARP. During her twenty years in this position, she was involved with major legislation covering a range of issues affecting senior citizens, including advocating for the passage of the Georgia Fair Lending Act. After her time with AARP, in 2014 she became the Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Aging, which advocates for the needs of Georgia’s seniors and their families. In 2017, she was appointed by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to the newly-created Older Adults Cabinet. In addition to these positions, Floyd served on the boards of directors of Georgians for a Healthy Future, the Georgia Gerontology Society, and Georgia Watch. She received the “Outstanding Georgia Citizen” award in 2019 from the Georgia Secretary of State in recognition of her career-long advocacy for the elderly. Floyd holds a BA in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA in finance from Georgia State University.
This article describes state efforts at passing anti-predatory mortgage laws and the opposition from bankers. The Georgia Fair Lending Act is discussed, and the article explains the various stakeholders’ positions, from housing advocates, to bankers, to rating agencies. In this article, Kathy Floyd, then working for the AARP in Georgia, expresses concern that banks were using the fear of a credit drought to gut the Georgia Fair Lending Act.
Romero, Susan. “Georgia Lending Law Now Toothless.” Inman News Features. Accessed July 10, 2022.
This article describes the strong response from credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s against the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Standard & Poor’s refused to rate mortgage-backed securities that included mortgages subject to the Georgia Fair Lending Act because the law allowed homeowners allegedly hurt by predatory lending practices to sue their lender or other entities that subsequently purchased their mortgage. In this article, Kathy Floyd disputes the claim that banks pulled out of Georgia due to the Georgia Fair Lending Act.
In this press release by AARP Georgia, Kathy Floyd advocates against Governor Purdue’s signing of a bill rolling back much of the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Floyd supports the original SB 53, which was a compromise bill after lenders and rating agencies objected to the Georgia Fair Lending Act.
