Auto dealers should not be exempt from the CFPA because of predatory financing practices like kickbacks or markups, yo yo scams, and car loan abuses targeted toward African Americans and low- to moderate-income consumers.

CRL shares stories of everyday people affected by financial abuse and emphasizes the need for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency to ensure that they and others are protected from such abuses in the future.

CRL letter to Members of House Financial Services Committee outlining support and opposition to various CFPA amendments on states' rights, credit-related insurance, and carve outs for credit unions and auto dealers.

The car dealers trade association (NADA) wants exemption from the CFPA. In a sign-on letter CRL and other consumer groups urge House Financial Services Committee to include the car dealers within CFPA jurisdiction.

CRL's views on the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. CRL President Michael Calhoun testifed before the House Financial Services Committee on September 30, 2009, stressing the importance of an independent agency that also preserves the ability of states to take action to protect consumers.

For years, federal bank regulators looked the other way; now Congress has a chance to reform our system of checks and balances, make banks accountable, and protect consumers from abusive financial products that caused our current economic crisis

Kathleen Keest, Senior Policy Counsel at CRL, testified before the House Financial Services Committee on CRL's support for a strong, state-of-the-art consumer protection agency for financial products -- provided that the agency is independent of the companies it regulates, and fully transparent and accountable to the public.

As Congress considers how to address improving consumer protection and regulation of our financial system going forward over the next several months, we offer six essential principles for achieving true regulatory reform.

Testimony of Kathleen E. Keest on behalf of the Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Federation of America, and the National Consumer Law Center before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Committee on Energy and Commerce in regards to H.R. 2309: The Consumer Credit and Debt Protection Act.

Center for Responsible Lending research finds North Carolina consumers who rely on the dealer to finance their auto loans are vulnerable to a litany of predatory practices. Without fairness and transparency in the process of financing a vehicle, consumers are subject to manipulation that can add thousands of dollars to its cost.