Center For Responsible Lending - A Resource For Predatory Lending Opponents

Foreclosure reform bill deserves Assembly nod
04/29/08, Modesto Bee
The state Senate has approved a bill that could help reduce the number of mortgage foreclosures, which one study suggests haven't hit their peak.

Good credit can't protect borrowers from bad loans
04/28/08, CNNMoney.com
More and more home owners with high credit scores are falling behind on their mortgage payments.

Amid storm of blame for crisis, brokers defend their industry
04/28/08, San Francisco Chronicle
Among those blamed for the nation's foreclosure crisis, one of the most prominent targets is mortgage brokers, who have been cited by regulators, legislators and borrowers as steering people into risky and costly loans.

Payday Lender Presses Charity to End Support for Tighter Rules
05/01/08, Wall Street Journal
Rent-A-Center Inc., a rising power in the payday-loan industry, pressured an Ohio food-bank association into quitting a coalition of activists that advocates a crackdown on the business.

Strickland supports cap on lending
04/27/08, Akron Beacon Journal
For months, the Ohio House has been sitting on three bills to regulate the payday-lending industry, which has been accused of trapping people in cycles of debt and charging excessive interest rates. Strickland, who has been relatively quiet on the issue, stepped front and center Friday by sending a short and succinct letter to the Coalition for Responsible Lending that outlines his position on the bill.

Sailor got loan from lobbyist before key vote
03/25/08, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Twenty-five days before voting for a controversial payday lending bill last year, then-state Rep. Ron Sailor Jr. accepted tens of thousands of dollars from a lobbyist pushing the bill.

Does Overdraft Protection Really Protect You?
05/09/08, Washington Post
The Federal Reserve along with two other banking regulators, the National Credit Union Administration and the Office of Thrift Supervision, have taken issue with financial institutions that assess overdraft protection fees without giving consumers the right to opt out of such program.

Colleges' debit-card deals draw scrutiny
03/17/08, USA Today
Why? One major reason is that debit card use is growing faster than credit card use, and young adults have proved especially willing to embrace the financial industry's push for cashless payments. Students also tend to be short on cash. That makes them a reliable source of fees for banks, which charge up to $38 each time consumers overdraw their accounts.

Banks relying more on fees for income
03/10/08, Charlotte Observer
Add this to the list of things that are getting more expensive: penalties that banks charge you for breaking their rules.

Trapped by title loan?
03/16/08, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Circuit Court to review case in which borrower faced 300% interest

States take on 'car title loans'
03/06/08, St. Petersburg Times
Florida set limits in 2000 that all but eliminated the industry, which loans cash with cars as collateral. But others still struggle.

Regulators zero in on credit card reform
05/02/08, CNNMoney.com
Federal regulators are pushing ahead to stop abuses by credit card issuers at a time when the $2 trillion industry has come under increasing scrutiny.

Bank of America to pledge mortgage aid
04/28/08, Los Angeles Times
In a hearing about its plan to buy Countrywide, the company will promise to help 265,000 troubled borrowers keep their homes and take other steps.

US Appeals Court Revives Credit-Card Arbitration Suit
04/28/08, CNNMoney.com
A federal appeals court overturned a ruling throwing out a lawsuit against credit-card issuers that alleged the firms broke the law by inserting arbitration-only clauses in contracts with credit-card holders and sent the case back to the lower court.