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The financial woes of the urban taxi market may not be entirely attributable to the scathing businesses: the industry was a house of cards that was waiting to collapse, a report said.
A New York Times Sunday investigation blamed the industry leaders who artificially inflated taxi medallions cost five times more than 12 years and created an extremely profitable, practice-based loan market. of doubtful loans similar to those that caused the collapse of the real estate market.
In 2013, a taxi medallion earned $ 1.3 million, but last year the market had plummeted and the medallions were selling for less than $ 250,000.
Much of the decline in value can be attributed to the flooding of Uber and Lyft drivers, but the report indicates that abusive loans, of which hundreds were drivers riding solely for interests, often immigrants and whose Monthly costs were heavy.
The report indicates that some loan costs have become so high that there have not been enough hours per week to generate profits and that all their monthly rates have been used to pay the loans.
When the market reached its lowest point in 2014, Robert Familan, president of the Progressive Credit Union, drew nearly $ 35 million from his non-profit, locket loan company.
Employees were encouraged to make fragile loans with bonuses and travel, the report says.
The lenders have denied any wrongdoing and the former president of the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission said her role was not to regulate loans, the report said.
But Meera Joshi told the newspaper that "many people just watched this happen."
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