Bipartisan effort led by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) builds on strong consumer protections recently enacted in California 

OAKLAND, Calif., November 17, 2017— Cisco DeVries, CEO of leading home improvement financing company Renew Financial, issued the following statement today in support of Chairman Mike Crapo’s bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. 

“This is an historic moment for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. The bipartisan legislation embraces the unique nature of PACE and preserves the rights of state and local governments to determine how PACE can best be used in their communities. If passed, this bill will enable the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to establish national ability-to-repay standards for all PACE communities. A homeowner who installs hurricane-resistant windows in Florida will enjoy the same protections as a homeowner who needs a new energy-efficient furnace in Missouri. 

“Over the past year, the PACE industry worked collaboratively with real estate professionals, bankers, consumer advocates, environmental organizations and others to design strong consumer protection rules. Those rules were first enacted into law in California, paving the way for these new national standards. 

“This was also a collaborative effort with a number of U.S. Senators. I would like to extend my special thanks to Senator Bennet of Colorado for his support of strong consumer protections for PACE financing. 

“Since I developed the first PACE program in 2008, Renew Financial has been a national leader in developing, implementing, and supporting the strongest possible consumer protections for PACE financing. Our team has worked with Congress, state legislatures, the US Department of Energy and many others to make sure every homeowner who chooses PACE has the best experience possible. We look forward to continuing that work in the years ahead with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” 

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About PACE 

The PACE industry is an overwhelming success story that has empowered more than 150,000 American homeowners to make energy efficiency, renewable energy, and hurricane-mitigation improvements to their properties. PACE administrators provide homeowners with 100% of the upfront funding for home improvements, and the homeowners repay these costs over time through an additional line item on their property taxes. This innovative financing tool is saving homeowners billions of dollars on their utility bills, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by millions of tons, and creating thousands of local jobs in the construction sector – all at no cost to taxpayers. 

About Renew Financial 

Renew Financial Group LLC (“Renew Financial”) is one of the nation’s leading home improvement financing companies. Renew Financial administers and provides multiple financing products across the country, with programs available in several states, including Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs operating in California and Florida. PACE is a financing tool enabled by state and local governments that provides homeowners and business owners with access to private capital to finance the entire cost of renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation, seismic, and wind mitigation upgrades, and then pay for those upgrades on their property tax bill. PACE was named by Scientific American as one of the “top 20 ideas that can change the world.” PACE is a job-creating policy tool that enjoys broad support, having been championed in state legislatures and local communities nationwide by business leaders, advocacy organizations and elected officials from both sides of the aisle. 

Renew Financial is a pending trademark of Renew Financial Holdings Inc.