CRL in the News

This change is designed to save lower-income buyers money, according to Mitria Spotser at the Center for Responsible Lending — often a few thousand dollars’ worth, which is enough to make the difference for some people. “It expands access by making homeownership more accessible to a broader scope of folks,” she said.

A bill being marked up by the House Wednesday is called the “CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act,” but it reminds the head of the Center for Responsible Lending of the attempt in 2017 to shut down the bureau. The CFPB was created in 2010 to enforce provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which Congress passed to prevent abuses that contributed to the financial meltdown in 2007 that led to the Great Recession.

In defense of CDFI changes — The Center for Responsible Lending pushed back on last week’s MM item about Arkansas Republicans who said rural lenders would be hurt by Treasury’s planned rule revamp for Community Development Financial Institutions. CRL policy counsel Andrew Kushner said: “Treasury’s plan for certification of Community Development Financial Institutions merits strong support. The plan appropriately prevents CDFI designation from going to bad actors that engage in predatory financial practices like lending above 36 percent APR or issuing unaffordable mortgages like those that

In 2023, “March Madness” took on a new meaning. Traditionally known as the nation’s premier college basketball competition, this year that moniker could also describe the madness that sprang from the closure of two banks with combined assets of $322 billion that affected consumers and small businesses in over 15 states.

Sometimes consolidating your loans through a private lender can be advantageous in the immediate term but will have detrimental effects in the long term, said Jaylon Herbin, director of federal campaigns at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit focused on consumer financial protection. The pitch might begin with, “Hey, we can get you low payments right now,” Herbin said. “That may be true, but on the back end, you have to look at what is the interest rate that is coming along with that. If you miss a payment and you get put into default, how long will it take you to get out of

As we celebrate passage of the Fair Housing Act over 50 years ago, we can’t lose sight of the work that remains for our nation to achieve housing justice.

While the problem of sewer service is well-known in the legal community, empirical data about the issue is limited. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission recommended states and local jurisdictions take steps to ensure defendants receive notices of their cases. Even after California’s Fair Debt Buyer Protection Act passed in 2013, a 2020 report from the Center for Responsible Lending cited sewer service as one reason so many cases end in default judgments in California.

The move made by the government-sponsored enterprises' overseer is right in line with its recommendation, and affordable housing groups like the Center for Responsible Lending and the National Housing Conference also have backed it.

In South Dakota, for instance, a citizen-led referendum in 2014 led to the passage of a 36% annual interest rate cap for financial products sold in the state. Title lenders stopped doing business there, but new credit lenders stepped in, and consumers ended up with more choice and lower interest rates, according to a four-year economic study conducted by the Center for Responsible Lending. “The only group that lost in this scenario were the title lenders,” said Steve Hinkey, a South Dakota pastor who as a then-Republican lawmaker spearheaded the referendum.

More than a dozen commercial websites already offer credit card comparison tools. But the sites often work with a relatively narrow range of large issuers, consumer advocates say, and earn fees when shoppers apply for a card. (Most sites disclose this.) Offerings from smaller banks and credit unions, which may charge lower rates, may not be included. “Comparison sites only show products with which they have an economic relationship,” said David Silberman, a senior fellow at the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. The sites can be useful, he said, as long as consumers understand the