Following Agreement in August, More Than 1,000 Medallion Owners Have Already Accessed Meaningful Debt Relief
MRP Closing Events Being Held This Week at TLC Offices in Queens
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) Chair and Commissioner David Do, and Senator Charles Schumer today announced that more than 1,000 medallion owners have already achieved more than $225 million in debt relief from the enhanced version of the Medallion Relief Program, MRP+ first announced in August. Following a finalized agreement with Marblegate Asset Management — the largest taxi medallion lender in the city — and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) on the operational terms of the program last month, renegotiated deals are now being closed, finally providing hundreds of millions of dollars in relief to medallion owners.
“Yellow cabs are New York City icons, right alongside the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, but in recent years, our taxi medallion owners and drivers have been burdened by crippling debt that has crushed people who only wanted to pursue the American Dream,” said Mayor Adams. “I am proud to announce that as of today, more than 1,000 medallion owners have closed on loans, resulting in over $225 million of taxi medallion debt relief and counting. MRP+ puts money back in the pockets of medallion owners and drivers — many of whom are immigrants — working around the clock to keep New Yorkers on the move and put food on their family’s table. This debt relief program means they no longer have to max out their credit cards, lose their homes, or be unable to pay for their children’s college education.”
“Today's achievement signals financial certainty in what has been a critically fragile market for medallion owners and taxi drivers,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. "Taxi drivers are the backbone for our city and the industry is critical to our transportation network, but for so long our driver owners have faced crippling debt. Today starts a new chapter of repair and rebirth for the industry."
“After striking a deal to get medallion owners the relief they desperately need, we finally have a program in place that is very quickly providing substantial amounts of debt forgiveness,” said TLC Chair and Commissioner Do. “I am incredibly thankful for all of the hard work done by the TLC, our partner agencies, Marblegate, and NYTWA, and I am looking forward to seeing the positive impacts that this program will have on the lives of medallion owners and the health of the taxi industry.”
“I am proud to have worked hand-in-hand with New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Mayors Adams and de Blasio, local elected officials, and a city-wide movement of New Yorkers to broker a deal with City Hall to provide life-saving debt relief for cab drivers,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “The medallion debt crisis has gone on for years—taking lives and livelihoods. I commend Mayor Adams, NYTWA, TLC, and Marblegate for working assiduously to enact the deal we reached last fall and providing critical debt relief for over 1,000 medallion owners thus far with more to come. Together, we are working to bring this ongoing situation to a just resolution for the cabbies who work every day to serve this city.”
“We are thankful to Mayor Adams, Majority Leader Schumer, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, TLC Chair David Do, and thousands of New Yorkers and electeds for standing with NYTWA members in our fight for a life free from crushing debt and poverty,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director, NYTWA. “Drivers put their bodies on the line to win this victory and we’ve come so far from the despair and shock of drivers dying by suicide when there was no hope for relief from medallion debt. Now, finally, drivers and their families can breathe. $225 million in relief means $225 million toward groceries, rent, healthcare and education. It feels impossible to quantify how much this will mean for drivers' families and the reinvestment into their lives and through them into our city. NYTWA members will keep working around the clock until every owner-driver gets the relief they need and for relief from the tax burden from forgiven debt. We thank Marblegate for partnering with us for a solution and ask all lenders to follow their lead. We also thank Chair Do, TLC staff, TLC driver resource center legal services, and FieldPoint Servicing for a truly herculean effort to close on so many loans over these two weeks. Their labor made these closings possible and the program a reality.”
"Over the past two weeks, we have seen more than a thousand medallion owners take action to restructure their loans through this groundbreaking debt relief program, a significant public-private partnership that has delivered more than $225 million in life-changing debt forgiveness," said Andrew Milgram, managing partner and chief investment officer, Marblegate Asset Management. "I want to thank everyone from the elected officials, the TLC, NYTWA, the Field Point Servicing team, and countless others for their extraordinary work to maximize the number of medallion owners that participated in this program. This is a testament to the important role that private capital can play to lead the way for change and public good, and I am proud to help deliver this incredible win for drivers."
“Taxi drivers have been a reliable part of our transportation system for decades, and the city wouldn’t be the same without them,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix. “They were severely impacted by an economic crisis worsened by a pandemic beyond our control. This historic program provides the financial relief these New Yorkers need to get them back on their feet so they can continue adding to the vibrancy and economic well-being of the city.”
Medallion owners are encouraged to sign up for free legal representation and financial counseling through TLC’s Owner/Driver Resource Center. Other lenders that would like to learn more should also visit the resource center.
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