CRL in the News

Why might cash advance apps cost more than their marketing would lead you to believe? Senior news writer Anna Helhoski talks with Candice Wang, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, about new research on payday advance apps. They discuss how these apps differ from traditional payday lenders (and how they don’t), why users may not recognize them as...

The longer people carry education loans, the more often they struggle to reach other financial security milestones, such as owning a home or saving enough for retirement, said Nadine Chabrier, a senior policy counsel at financial research nonprofit the Center for Responsible Lending. “Student loans that constrain wealth-building for 20 or 25 years cannot be called ‘good debt,’” Chabrier said.

More workers can now use pay advance apps for quick cash to cover expenses between paychecks. The apps may offer no-cost options, but most users end up paying fees that can total hundreds of dollars a year, a new analysis finds. “They are not free in the vast majority of cases,” said Candice Wang, a senior researcher at the Center...

A January report from the Center for Responsible Lending found that OppFi facilitated personal installment loans with up to 195% APR on loans ranging from $500 to $5,000.

For Calhoun at the Center for Responsible Lending, the stakes are clear. An approval would lead to a normalization of three-digit APRs like the one Patrick is struggling with years later with no end in sight. He says it would not only open the floodgates to other fintech lenders that want to become banks — it would also push current...

Decades ago, banks allowed their customers to overdraft their accounts as a courtesy, Pete Smith, a senior researcher for the Durham-based Center for Responsible Lending, told The News & Observer in a phone interview. Banking wasn’t as digital as it is today, and customers couldn’t simply open an app to see whether a check had cleared.

Center for Responsible Lending President Mike Calhoun said the plan would “siphon away investment from the very communities in rural and urban America that most need those funds.” Calhoun also said it would “discourage banks from providing financial services — mortgages, small-business loans and other investments — to families who have been left behind by our country’s economic changes. The...

The Center for Responsible Lending also opposed the bill last month, saying in a press release that if the legislation becomes law it would exempt some EWA services “from laws that help stop lenders from fleecing consumers.”

Several factors are making buying cars more expensive, said Lucia Constantine, a senior researcher at the Durham-based Center for Responsible Lending. In recent years, vehicles have become pricier, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting supply chain issues, not to mention new tariffs implemented by the Trump administration, Constantine said. Cars also incorporate more technology than before, which adds to...

Advocacy group Center for Responsible Lending conducts research and promotes financial fairness. “Anything could happen, because it is litigation. We see that the courts every day are overturning something that has been done years ago, and so they can overturn it, or they can affirm what is already in place right now,” said Jaylon Herbin, the director of federal campaigns...