Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Loans

HOT TOPICS Television segment: Last Week Tonight(21:50 runtime) “PACE Loans.” Background information provided to the producers by NCLC policy experts John Rao and Charlie Harak, 6/21/21 Issue Brief: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Loans: State and Local Consumer Protection Recommendations, Nov. 2019 Press Release: Advocates Applaud CFPB’s Intention to Deal with PACE Loan Program Abuses, March 4, 2019 Group letter from consumer advocates and industry groups urging the CFPB to initiate PACE rulemaking, Oct. 15, 2018 Issue brief: Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Loans: The Perils of Easy Money for Clean Energy Improvements, Sept. 2017

The National Consumer Law Center monitors and comments on the potential benefits and risks to consumers regarding various ways to finance home energy efficiency improvements, including Property Accessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans, where the local city or town finances the improvements.

Policy Analysis

Press Releases, Reports & Issue Briefs

• Press Release: Los Angeles County Ends PACE Program Marred by Fraud, Abuse, and Unaffordable Loans, May 20, 2020
• Issue Brief: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Loans: State and Local Consumer Protection Recommendations, Nov. 2019
• Issue Brief: Ohio’s New Residential PACE Programs Need Strong Consumer Protections to Prevent Homeowner Abuses, Oct. 2019
• Press Release: Advocates Applaud CFPB’s Intention to Deal with PACE Loan Program Abuses, March 4, 2019

More press releases, reports, & issue briefs 

Comments & Letters

• Group comments to the FHFA re: Climate and Natural Disaster Risk Management Request for Input, April 19, 2021
• Comments by the National Consumer Law Center, National Housing Law Project, Consumer Federation of America, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and National Fair Housing Alliance to the Federal Housing Finance Agency in response to a Request for Input for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans(No. 2020–N–1), March 13, 2020
• Group letter from consumer advocates to CFPB on importance of applying TILA to PACE, Jan. 8, 2020
• Comments by the National Consumer Law Center and the National Housing Law Project to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans (Docket No. CFPB-2019-0011), May 7, 2019
• Group letter from consumer advocates urging the CFPB to begin accepting consumer complaints about PACE loans, April 8, 2019
• Group letter from consumer advocates and industry groups urging the CFPB to initiate PACE rulemaking, Oct. 15, 2018

More comments & letters

State Legislation

• Letter re: California Senate Bill 1087 from National Housing Law Project, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, and National Consumer Law Center recommending further changes to PACE legislation, April 11, 2018
• Letter: Housing and consumer groups urge the Council of State Governments to refrain from approving a proposed resolution supporting residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), Dec. 11, 2017
• Press Release: Housing and Consumer Groups Statement on California A.B. 1284’s PACE Loan Ability-to-Repay Provisions, Sept. 15, 2017
• Analysis by NCLC of Montana Draft PACE Bill, Feb. 2, 2017

Additional Resources

• California District Attorneys Settlement with PACE program administrator Renovate America and News Release, August 9, 2019
• NASUCA resolution urging the adoption state laws and regulations to protect consumers from abuses in the marketing of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans for energy efficiency upgrades. June 5, 2017
• Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) testimony: Statement of Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel, FHFA, before the California Legislature, Keeping Up with PACE, June 2016

Homeowner Stories

• San Diego, CA (Elder Law & Advocacy)
• The Department of Energy: Best Practice Guidelines for Residential PACE Financing: Consumer Protections, Dec. 15, 2016 (PowerPoint)

PACE Loans in the News

• 6/21/21 Last Week Tonight (21:50 runtime) “PACE Loans.” Background information provided to the producers by NCLC policy experts John Rao and Charlie Harak, 6/21/21
• 6/25/19 Naples (FL) Daily News “Collier commissioners vote to keep ban on residential PACE program.”
• 6/4/17 Los Angeles Times “These loans were created to help homeowners but for some they did the opposite” by Andrew Khouri with quotes by John Rao. Part 1 of 2.
  6/4/17 Los Angeles Times “With some borrowers struggling with a new kind of home-improvement loan, reforms are on the table” by Andrew Khouri with quote by John Rao. Part 2 of 2.
• April 18, 2017, North Bay Business Journal “PACE green home-upgrade loans could get bigger legal leash”
• April 11, 2017, Florida Sun Sentinel “Federal suit says PACE home improvement loan program fails to disclose risks, costs”
• April 5, 2017, Wall Street Journal, Green-Energy PACE Home Loans Catch Congress’s Ire
• Jan. 10, 2017 America’s Fastest-Growing Loan Category Has Eerie Echoes of Subprime Crisis (WSJ)

More PACE loans in the news