Self-Help and the Center for Responsible Lending strongly oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule to drastically expand the criteria that will be considered to determine whether an immigrant is likely to become a public charge. Being deemed a public charge is of tremendous consequence for individuals and families, as it permits the government to deny someone admission to the United States or a change in status, including lawful permanent residence. Continue reading the comment letter. (PDF)
Consumer Finance
CRL monitors developments across the consumer finance sector and acts to protect people’s pocketbooks from financial misconduct so families can build financial stability. This includes advocating for enforcement of laws banning discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, and other protected characteristics. CRL also fights to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a crucial government watchdog that was established in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis to stop predatory practices.
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Today, the Center for Responsible Lending, Americans for Financial Reform, and other leading national labor, civil rights, consumer advocacy, fair housing, and legal services organizations responded in a joint comment to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on how the agency should update Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) procedures. The groups pressed the OCC that any changes to the CRA must strengthen -- not weaken -- banks’ obligation to meet the needs of low-income communities and communities of color and that changes must result...
This important hearing addresses how technological innovation has resulted in the development of new services and delivery platforms by both traditional financial institutions and non-bank fintech companies. The rapid expansion of market participants and their products has brought new opportunities, as well as significant consumer protection concerns, to the financial marketplace. In my written testimony I will discuss in detail the essential legal questions and consumer protection issues that must be at the center of the broader fintech dialogues occurring between consumer groups, lenders...
"The undersigned consumer, community, and civil rights organizations write to urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reverse its recent decision to suspend the supervision of payday, car title, and other lenders for violations of the Military Lending Act (MLA). We also urge the Department of Defense to ensure that the Military Lending Act is vigorously implemented without exemptions or loopholes to protect servicemembers and their families from financial abuse." Download the entire letter.
CRL director of federal advocacy, Scott Astrada, appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security) on August 21, 2018 to deliver testimony on the “Financial Literacy: The Starting Point for a Secure Retirement."
Dear Coalition Supporters, This update covers important predatory lending developments over the past few months, including action at the NC General Assembly, challenge of the payday rule in Congress (spoiler, we won!), threats to our state usury cap, rollback of federal student loan protections, and recent CRL research. NC General Assembly: What Happened? House Bill 810, backed by the NC-based BB&T, would have tripled the origination fee on consumer loans issued by NC-chartered banks to $150, and could have more than tripled the late fee by increasing the fee to $35. Most worrisome was the...
Dear Coalition supporters, At a time when victories are hard to come by, please take a minute to celebrate a big win! We stopped Congress from rolling back the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s national payday rule. Last week, the clock ran out on efforts to use the fast-track Congressional Review Act to repeal the rule and prevent the bureau from regulating payday and car title lenders in the future. They didn’t have the votes they needed to pass H.J. Resolution 122, the payday CRA. With strong opposition from so many fronts, members of Congress realized that the price was too high to...
This sign-on letter of national civil rights, faith, and consumer groups, argues that bank payday loans are high-cost debt traps, just like payday loans from non-banks. It urges the prevention of high-cost, usurious loans by banks and credit unions—whether short-term, balloon-payment payday loans (which banks sometimes call “deposit advance” loans) or longer-term high-cost installment loans or lines of credit, and regardless of whether the loans are made by banks directly or through partnerships with non-bank lenders. “Deposit advance” loans are payday loans, pure and simple, and data clearly...
Ten groups filed this amicus brief in support of the continued independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This brief appeals the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction allowing Leandra English to serve as acting director of the CFPB. The litigation regarding whether the lawful acting director is English or U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney continues.