Research

Carve-Out Undermines New Federal Consumer Oversight Infrastructure At the root of HR 1909 and similar legislation is an effort by non-bank lenders to circumvent new federal oversight and undermine consumer protections recently provided under the Dodd-Frank Act. HR 1909 will allow non-bank lenders selling a broad range of predatory products, including payday loans and car-title loans, to be chartered and...

The Foreclosure Reduction Act (AB 278 & SB 900) is designed to provide Californians with better safeguards and fair treatment in the foreclosure process. The California Bankers Association and other industry groups recently released a flawed report purporting to show how the bill will extend the foreclosure process and have detrimental economic consequences. The proponents' claims are unsubstantiated and are...

A Bipartisan Opportunity to Help Homeowners (Excerpt) Read the entire document (PDF) >> A bill in the U.S. Senate would more than double the number of homeowners who could refinance under a federal mortgage program and more than double their potential savings, a Columbia University Business School study estimates. Senate bill 3085, introduced by Senators Robert Menendez and Barbara Boxer...

Read the press release >> Although the national foreclosure crisis is now in its fifth year, it is far from over—particularly for California. The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that there are still nearly 700,000 California homeowners who are at least 30 days delinquent or in the foreclosure process. While not all of these impending foreclosures can or should be...

California is only halfway through the foreclosure crisis, with more than 670,000 California households at risk of foreclosure: Data from CRL's report, Lost Ground, 2011 show that 9.3 percent of all loans originated between 2004 and 2008 – 581,000 – have already resulted in completed foreclosure, but that another 8.9 percent (549,000) were at immediate risk of foreclosure. At the...

During the course of negotiations, the Joint Conference Committee on Mortgage Foreclosures has substantially narrowed the scope of the bill and limited the protections to borrowers relative to the version of the bills that were before the Assembly and Senate Banking Committees earlier this year. Specific changes include: Narrower Scope of Coverage: the final bill includes a number of changes...

The FDIC has promised to make investigation of bank payday lending a priority. In response to a letter submitted by 250 advocates, Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg said the banking regulator is concerned that banks are violating guidelines for fair and affordable products. </p>

Good afternoon. The Center for Responsible Lending is a non-profit research and policy organization dedicated to protecting home-ownership and family wealth. Let's begin with the following premise: In terms of technology and hence core product costs, general purpose reloadable prepaid cards are indistinguishable from debit cards associated with checkless checking accounts. Both prepaid and debit cards must maintain a database...

In 2001, the Coalition for Responsible Lending estimated that several common predatory mortgage practices cost U.S. borrowers $9.1 billion each year. For the most part, these practices were entirely legal under the law at that time. The report concludes that the solution is reforms to state and federal lending laws.

What hurts consumers financially also hurts business Watch report author and CRL Senior Researcher Josh Frank discuss the report findings. Read the full report >> Read the executive summary >> CRL research shows losses on credit cards in the current downturn rose faster at banks using unfair, deceptive practices. High-cost penalty fees and interest rates didn't mitigate risk—as credit card...