Press Releases

National Consumer Advocacy Groups File Motion to Intervene with DC Circuit and Maintain CFPB's Constitutional Authority to Protect Americans from Wall Street Greed Today in a joint effort, advocate groups including Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), Self-Help Credit Union (SHCU), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), and Maeve Elise Brown, the Executive Director of Housing and Economic Rights Advocates and Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Consumer Advisory Board

Cost-savings for home buyers purchasing a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgage loan was eliminated by the first executive order of the new Trump Administration. The move rolls back a premium rate cut of .25 percent that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced early last week, which aimed to save borrowers, especially first-time homebuyers, hundreds of dollars a year on annual mortgage insurance premiums. Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) senior researcher Sarah Wolff released the following statement: The Administration’s actions will make it more

Suit against Navient underscores need to keep the CFPB undisturbed with Richard Cordray as director. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it is suing Navient, formerly part of Sallie Mae and the nation’s largest servicer of both federal and private student loans, over allegations that it routinely cheated borrowers out of their right to lower loan repayments based on their income. Navient also failed to properly apply payments, steered borrowers toward costlier repayment plans, and buried information that could have both lowered payments and let borrowers release their co

Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released research showing troubling outcomes at Colorado’s four-year for-profit colleges. For-profit colleges leave students with lower graduation rates, higher debt loads, and higher defaults on that debt. These difficulties fall especially heavily on students of color, who are disproportionately enrolled in for-profit colleges in Colorado. CRL analyzed date from the U.S. Department of Education and found the following: The graduation rate at Colorado’s four-year for-profit schools averaged only 26% -- only one out of four students graduate– as

Innovation Should Not Come at the Expense of Consumer Protection The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the NAACP have sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry urging him not to offer national charters to financial technology firms, which could severely undermine state oversight and state laws that protect consumers and small business owners from abusive financial products and practices. "We understand that the OCC seeks to expand financial inclusion and lead innovation through issuing non-bank charters to fintech

Advocates underscore real threat to state law protections against predatory lenders "The OCC's charter proposal enables companies to avoid state licensing regimes and oversight by state regulators and attorneys general." More than 250 groups sent a letter today to Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry urging him not to grant national charters to financial technology firms, which could preempt state oversight and state consumer protection laws that protect consumers and small businesses from abusive financial practices. The letter by state advocates, affordable housing providers, national

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) lauded congressional leaders from the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for calling on President-elect Donald Trump to reject attempts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by removing CFPB Director Richard Cordray. Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee, led by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, underscored to the president-elect

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a survey which highlights that over one-in-four consumers contacted by a debt collection agency felt threatened. Additionally, the CFPB noted in their survey that one in seven consumers contacted about a debt during the previous year were sued in state court. About 75 percent of those sued do not go to the court hearing, which generally makes them responsible for the debt. The CFPB survey, a first of its kind, provides comprehensive and nationally representative data on consumers’ experiences with debt collection. "The Bureau's

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing today to consider the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Nikitra Bailey, an Executive Vice President for the Center for Responsible Lending's (CRL) released the following statement: The work of the Department of Housing and Urban Development contributes greatly to helping hard working families pursue their American dreams. Safe, decent, and affordable housing free of discrimination is a vital rung on the opportunity ladder. Dr. Ben Carson's

Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) lauded a group of U.S. Senate Banking Committee Democrats for calling on Wells Fargo Chief Executive Timothy Sloan to explain the recent boost in revenue from overdraft charges and whether the increase is connected to the bank’s practice of opening fraudulent accounts. In a letter, led by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, members expressed concern with reports the bank’s income from overdraft charges grew by more than seven percent between July and September