Press Releases

Research released earlier today by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finds that a growing number of consumers aged 60 or older are struggling financially to repay student loans. The majority of these loans were either co-signed or borrowed on behalf of younger family members. From 2005 to 2015, the number of senior citizens affected quadrupled from 700,000 to 2.8 million. The average debt owed by older borrowers also doubled during this time period from $12,000 to $23,500. Since 2015, nearly 40 percent of older federal student loan borrowers aged 65 or older were in default. In

The California Supreme Court recently ruled against payday lenders who try to use tribal sovereignty to avoid state licensing and consumer protection laws. In 2007, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO)—then called the Department of Corporations—filed a suit alleging that private payday lenders such as Ameriloan and OneClickCash, each affiliated with the Miami Nation of Oklahoma or the Nebraska-based Santee Sioux Nation, had violated the law by lending without state licenses and charging excessive fees. The payday lenders had previously won lower court rulings before the case

Two recent federal actions underscore the challenges many college graduates have getting licensed in their career fields because of inadequate higher education regulations. The Career Ready Student Veterans Act, passed on December 13, prevents the Veterans Administration from approving programs for GI Bill dollars if graduates are ineligible for licensure in licensed programs. And on Friday, the U.S. Department of Education released final rules on postsecondary distance education programs. The final rules require that colleges be authorized to operate in the states where their students live in

DeVry University, one of the nation's largest for-profit universities has agreed to a multi-million dollar lawsuit settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The case filed in January 2016 charged that at least since 2008, DeVry's deceptive marketing tactics deliberately sought to lure students into enrollment with false promises of job and income security upon graduation. Prospective students were told in their recruitment and in advertising that 90 percent of DeVry graduates would secure employment within six months of matriculation in their chosen fields. A second institutional

Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released research showing that in Colorado, companies that purchase bad debts and attempt to collect on them frequently pursue the wrong person, try to collect the wrong amount, or pursue a debt that is not owed. Debt buyers flood the courts with lawsuits, though they often do not have the documentation to ensure that they are pursing the right person for the right debt. Debt buyers pay pennies on the dollar for bad debts and then attempt to collect the full amount. Further, the debt buyers count on the fact that most people will not hire a

Targeting Borrowers of Color Only Widens the Racial Wealth Gap The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) published a new research report this week that shows payday loan stores in the state are disproportionately located in heavily African American and Latino neighborhoods (PDF). Combined, African Americans and Latinos make up almost 44% of the state's total population--and in those communities, on average, nearly 60% had six or more payday loan stores compared to white communities at 28%. DBO's research reflects a 2009 report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) that shows

Innovation Should Not Come at the Expense of Consumer Protection, Evade State Anti-Predatory Lending Laws Today, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced its intention to offer national charters to financial technology firms, which could severely undermine state oversight and state consumer protection laws that protect consumers and small business owners from abusive financial products and practices. The OCC is accepting comments on its framework until January 15, 2017. Before the OCC’s announcement, 49 organizations sent a letter to the Comptroller expressing "strong

Brown, Sherman Bill Would Prevent Wells Fargo from Using Forced Arbitration Clauses in Real Accounts to Block Customers from Suing over Fraudulent Ones The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) today applauded the introduction of the Justice for Victims of Fraud Act of 2016, a bill to give Wells Fargo customers who were victims of a fraudulent account opening scheme their day in court. The legislation was introduced by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and U.S. Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), a member of the U.S

United Effort to Maintain a Strong, Independent Consumer Protection Agency Today, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), and other civil rights and consumer advocacy organizations, as well as 21 members of Congress submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of PHH Corporation v. CFPB, in support of the CFPB. The groups and members of Congress urged the full court to grant the CFPB's petition for a rehearing of a 2-1 panel decision last month, which they believe incorrectly ruled that the

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), along with the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights and NAACP, applauded the U.S. Department of Energy for strengthening its Best Practice Guidelines for Residential PACE Financing in final guidance issued Friday. The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program is intended to finance energy efficient home improvements through municipal loans, but low-income homeowners have risked losing their homes to foreclosure through the program because appropriate consumer protections have been absent. "PACE loans can be dangerous for consumers because