Morris Leader

A Parsippany hotel general manager recently appealed to his congressional representative to stop lenders from using "vulture tactics" to prey on borrowers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic's economic impact.

Lenders circling over the pandemic-distressed properties "are well within their legal rights," Hampton Inn Parsippany General Manager Gazmen Ljikovic said in his April 2 letter to Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ).

In a copy of the two-page letter obtained by the Morris Leader, Ljikovic told Sherrill that the lenders' scheme is "unconscionable from a moral perspective and stand starkly against the principles that we share here in the United States."

"Frankly, to take advantage of this crisis for the sake of better returns for some New York hedge fund strikes me as unAmerican," Ljikovic continued in his letter. "The negative impact to hotel owners and their employees of these vulture tactics will be long lasting."

Ljikovic urged Sherrill to join with other members of congress, the Federal Reserve and other regulatory agencies "to address this situation before hotels across this country are mercilessly foreclosed on due to no fault of their own." Among other things,

Hampton Inn Parsippany is a 150-room hotel on 1 Hilton Court.

Earlier this month, Sherrill announced resources available to New Jersey small businesses that have been hard struck by the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources were being made available through the U.S. Small Business Administration and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority as part of the part of the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

"Small businesses across the community are facing unthinkable challenges right now, and it’s crucial that we support them in every way we can," Sherrill said in his April 3 announcement. "I’ve heard from small businesses - from first time business owners to family companies who have operated in North Jersey for generations - all of whom are rightfully worried about what the coming weeks and months hold as we continue to fight the COVID-19 crisis."

The $2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress late last month provides some foreclosure relief, mostly for family-owned properties.

In addition, some states have set up foreclosure moratoriums and stays, often covering small and large properties from actions by lenders to seize assets when payments aren't made during the pandemic.

New Jersey is one of those states, thanks to two orders issued last month. Gov. Phil Murphy's March 19 executive order bars residential homeowner evictions after foreclosure but allows foreclosures to otherwise proceed. In a judicial order issued March 28, the state's Banking and Insurance department announced an agreement with about 45 servicers to consider forbearance agreement for borrowers suffering economic hardship in the pandemic.

Both orders mostly apply to family residential properties and not to larger properties.

Larger properties received some protection in an interagency statement issued March 22 by the Federal Reserve, FDIC and other regulatory agencies that encouraged the nation's banks to work proactively with borrowers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The agencies encourage financial institutions to work prudently with borrowers who are or may be unable to meet their contractual payment obligations because of the effects of COVID-19," the statement said. "The agencies view loan modification programs as positive actions that can mitigate adverse effects on borrowers due to COVID-19. The agencies will not criticize institutions for working with borrowers and will not direct supervised institutions to automatically categorize all COVID-19 related loan modifications as troubled debt restructurings (TDRs)."

Ljikovic called the interagency statement "undoubtedly a step in the right direction" but said not all borrowers have loans from FDIC-insured banks.

"However, billions of dollars of hotel loans in our country come from unregulated non-banks such as hedge funds and other investment funds," Ljikovic's letter said. "Since the Federal Reserve and the FDIC have no direct oversight of these firms, they are unlikely to follow the previously mentioned guidance. They are more likely to take a different approach: the use of vulture tactics to extract as much 'value' out of the hotel as possible without any regard for the current crisis or the hotel employees or hotel owners involved."

Those "vulture tactics" include accelerating the foreclosure process to gather in as many COVID-19-distressed properties as possible, using "small technical ways" to rush loan defaults, denying borrowers existing escrowed funds and slowing reimbursements on collateral, Ljikovic's letter said.

"Representative Mikie Sherrill, I urge you, Congress, the Federal Reserve and other governmental agencies to move quickly to address this situation before hotels across this country are mercilessly foreclosed on due to no fault of their own," Ljikovic's letter said. "To the extent additional legislation related to COVID-19 is proposed, I would recommend adding language that introduces an 18-month moratorium on ALL foreclosure proceedings for ALL lenders to hotels. This should give hotels the time they will need to come up with reasonable solutions and strategies with their lenders to ensure that they have their loans paid off and avoid unnecessarily enriching hedge fund vultures."