Supreme Court to Take Up Case on Fate of Consumer Watchdog

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Adam Liptak | The New York Times
“If the Supreme Court accepts this deeply flawed argument against C.F.P.B. funding, it would set a dangerous precedent that would be used to challenge agencies with legally indistinguishable funding, including the Federal Reserve, F.D.I.C., Medicare and Social Security,” said Nadine Chabrier, a senior policy and litigation counsel at the nonpartisan research group Center for Responsible Lending.

Justices Should OK Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

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Mitria Spotser | Law360
One of my favorite quotes comes from the 2000 political drama "The Contender." In it, the vice presidential nominee, Laine Hanson, explains her refusal to neither confirm nor deny the sexist smear campaign against her with one sentence: "Principles only mean something if you stick by them when they're inconvenient." Twenty-three years later, I find myself thinking about that line in the context of the U.S. Supreme Court. And, when it comes to student loan forgiveness, the members of the court could learn a thing or two from the scriptwriters in Hollywood.

Supreme Court takes up challenge that threatens consumer watchdog agency

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Robert Barnes | Washington Post
“If the Supreme Court accepts this deeply flawed argument against C.F.P.B. funding, it would set a dangerous precedent that would be used to challenge agencies with legally indistinguishable funding, including the Federal Reserve, F.D.I.C., Medicare and Social Security,” said Nadine Chabrier, a senior policy and litigation counsel at the nonpartisan research group Center for Responsible Lending.

CFPB Stands By Changes To Its In-House Proceeding Rules

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Jon Hill | Law360
In comments submitted last spring, the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy group, praised the revamped procedural rules, saying they would strengthen "the ability of the agency to protect consumers and the rights of respondents subject to agency action." Allowing bifurcated proceedings, for example, mirrors how cases can be handled in federal court, promotes case law development and "saves precious resources on the part of both the CFPB and respondents," CRL said. The group also said that letting the CFPB director take first crack at dispositive motions would "save time and

CFPB seeks end to hidden junk fees

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Charlene Crowell | New Pittsburgh Courier
While acknowledging the Bureau’s earlier efforts to rein in high-cost overdraft fees, Nadine Chabrier, a Senior Policy Counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending says more must be done to protect consumers from other costly junk fees. “These charges wreak havoc on household budgets,” said Chabrier. “We applaud President Biden for highlighting their harm… We are encouraged that the consumer bureau announced it will take additional steps, and we urge the bureau to place strong limits on the size and frequency of these fees.”

Credit card debt is rising. Again.

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Samantha Fields | Marketplace
It’s become more expensive to carry debt in recent months since the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates to try to get inflation under control. That may be contributing to the increase in credit card balances in a couple of ways, according to David Silberman at the Center for Responsible Lending. “As interest rates go up, the amount of any payment that goes to interest rather than to repaying the principal goes up,” he said.

TD lays out 5-year, $50B community benefits plan tied to merger

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Dan Ennis | Banking Dive
A dozen advocacy groups, led by the Center for Responsible Lending, wrote to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in August, urging them to curb the deal over the amount TD collects in overdraft fees.

Advocacy groups ask FTC to expand Biden administration efforts to rein in junk fees

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Casey Quinlan | Alaska Beacon
The Prison Policy Initiative, a criminal justice policy think tank, and the National Consumer Law Center, along with 27 other organizations, including the Center for Responsible Lending, and Southern Poverty Law Center, signed the letter. It explained that incarcerated people are often hit with fees for phone calls and messaging services, electronic monitoring and post-arrest diversion programs.

Kyrsten Sinema Founded Consulting Firm With Arizona Figure Tied to Payday Loan Industry

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Daniel Boguslaw | The Intercept
“Saying that people who are in hard financial straits need access to this kind of credit is sort of like giving a starving person rotten food,” Whitney Barkley-Denney, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, told The Intercept. “It makes them sicker than they were in the first place. People who borrow with payday loans find themselves facing bankruptcy, foreclosure, and worse. So the solution to the problems so many people face is higher wages and better jobs, instead of loans that sink them further and further into financial insecurity.”

What are junk fees and how might Biden tackle them?

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Sam Cabral | BBC News
At least three federal agencies have also taken action over the past two years to reduce junk fees and increase transparency. That includes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has ramped up its oversight of surprise overdraft and depositor fees charged by banks. The Center for Responsible Lending has hailed the move as "a big step" in highlighting the harms of charges that "wreak havoc on household budgets".