Press Releases

In an August 31 ruling, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) secured a critical win in a suit against California-based payday and installment lender for “servicing and collecting full payment on loans that state-licensing and usury laws had rendered wholly or partially void or uncollectible.” In an action to enforce the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB filed the suit in 2013 against CashCall and its affiliates, which partnered with another company, WesternSky, and claimed that tribal law rather than state law applied to their loans. The federal

In response to today’s announcement that ITT Technical Educational Services, Inc. will close all of its nationwide locations, the Center for Responsible Lending’s Whitney Barkley, a policy counsel specializing in student loans made the following statement: Although ITT Tech blamed its closures on August 25 Department of Education supervisory actions, the institution was facing multiple state investigations as well as other serious signs of approaching failure. The first danger signal came when the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools found that ITT Tech was "not in

New research finds that in states without triple-digit payday loans, 90 million consumers save more than $2.2 billion each year that would have otherwise been paid to lenders. These costs savings also bring fewer long-term financial harms such as bankruptcy. The research shows that consumers in payday-free states have multiple ways to manage temporary cash shortfalls and at a fraction of the cost of payday loans. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau receives public comments on how its proposed rule could close loopholes, the new research is particularly timely. A number of strong state

CRL research finds low lending levels perpetuate racial wealth gaps and segregation. Mortgage lending in the nation's most populous state continues to lock out many of California's consumers of color, finds the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). A new analysis of first-lien, owner-occupied home purchase mortgages made from 2012-2014, reveal a lack of access to conventional mortgages for many Latino and African-American consumers. These troubling lending patterns perpetuate racial wealth gaps and housing segregation. "These post-crisis mortgage lending trends in California help to inform our

Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) convened a public hearing in Sacramento on the first look at the agency's proposals to address abusive debt collection. The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) delivered expert testimony that highlighted how millions Americans are affected by this $13 billion industry. Equally important, the public hearing also provides the opportunity to offer initial feedback on the proposals as the Bureau begins its related rulemaking process. "We know from research and enforcement actions in the states that over the past decade debt buyers and other

Financial accountability and tough regulations are still needed, say 3 out of 4 likely voters. These two top line findings from a recent poll measured consumer satisfaction with Wall Street banks as well as a range of other financial services and providers including credit cards, debt collectors, payday loans and mortgages. The poll, jointly commissioned by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), reveals that these preferences are shared across partisan affiliations. When asked whether more financial regulation was needed, 69 percent of all

A new national poll found that, by a margin of 3 to 1, voters strongly support restoring consumers' right to join together to take legal action against banks and other financial services companies that break the law. With the House of Representatives set to vote today on a multi-agency appropriations bill with riders that would strip the CFPB's authority to act on forced arbitration, voters of all political parties express majority support for federal action to restrict the practice. Consumer finance contracts now commonly require disputes to be settled through private arbitration instead of

Today the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced changes to the Federal Housing Administration's Distressed Asset Stabilization Program that will help borrowers stay in their homes and support neighborhood recovery. Under the program, HUD will require third party buyers of FHA's non-performing loans to include principal reduction as part of their loan modification programs. This change builds on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent efforts in this area. Furthermore, HUD will create more favorable pricing for nonprofit organizations in the loan auctions

New research report by The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) finds that North Carolina is one of three states across the country where community college students are notably shortchanged on federal student loans. The report, States of Denial: Where Community College Students Lack Access to Federal Student Loans, documents substantial disparities in loan access by state, race/ethnicity, and urban/non-urban status during the 2015-16 academic year. Close to half of North Carolina's community college students—53 percent—have no access to these loans. Whitney Barkley, an expert on

As representatives of consumer, community, religious and civil rights organizations, we applaud the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for releasing a strong proposed payday and car title lending rule and urge the Bureau to close some concerning loopholes that would allow some lenders to continue making harmful loans with business as usual. At the heart of the CFPB's proposed rule released earlier this month in Kansas City, Missouri, is a common sense principle—that lenders should be required to determine whether or not a consumer has the ability to repay a loan without hardship or re