Small Business

In a letter to the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee, consumer advocates warn that the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2023 would facilitate evasion of existing consumer protection laws and regulations. Citing the foreclosure crisis around 2008 and other examples, the letter states: "Blind endorsement of 'innovations' leads to consumer harms." The bill, currently a discussion draft, was considered as part of a House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing "Modernizing Financial Services Through Innovation and Competition," held on October 25, 2023— a hearing that the...

In a letter to the author of the Earned Wage Access Consumer Protection Act, advocates warn: "In the guise of offering protections, the bill obscures its true effect: to exempt fintech cash advances from the Truth in Lending Act, to endorse a form of loan that makes workers pay to be paid, and to facilitate new evasions by payday lenders ." The bill, currently a discussion draft, was considered as part of a House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing "Modernizing Financial Services Through Innovation and Competition," held on October 25, 2023— a hearing that the Center for Responsible...

New data from the bipartisan polling team Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting shows that voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support the ongoing mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to regulate the financial industry and protect consumers. The survey also revealed strong support for maintaining the secure, independent funding mechanism for the CFPB. These new findings are consistent with over 10 years of opinion research demonstrating strong public support for the agency’s role and work. Voters are strongly supportive of a variety of...

National CAPACD, NALCAB, and the Center for Responsible Lending submitted this letter to support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) final Section 1071 regulation which will improve relationship banking by creating a robust and comprehensive data collection regime that helps ensure that small business lending is fair and accessible to entrepreneurs from all communities in the United States.

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), American Business Immigrant Coalition (ABIC), and more than 20 consumer, civil rights and advocacy groups and lenders, recently submitted a letter urging the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to reverse the Good Faith Error Rule that has prevented more than 300,000 small business owners from obtaining forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Read the full letter.

Amid growing concern about corporate consolidation, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund are leading a letter calling for the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to reject a proposed merger between TD Bank and First Horizon Bank. Their comment letter points to several reasons why regulators should deny the application , including TD Bank’s exceptionally poor treatment of consumers and an exacerbation of the “too-big-to-fail” problem if the merger is approved. Co-signatories are Alaska PIRG, American...

The National Coalition for Asian American Community Development (National CAPACD), the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), and the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) are pleased to submit collective recommendations as the Building Back Better for Entrepreneurs of Color partnership to the interagency request for public input regarding the Community Reinvestment Act.

NALCAB, the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD), and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) write in response to the invitation for public comments regarding changes made to the Community Advantage Pilot Program (CA) noticed in the Federal Register on April 29th, 2022. Access to capital is one of the greatest barriers to success for minority entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2011 CA has successfully expanded access to capital for small businesses located in underserved communities...

Next to owning a home, business equity is the largest source of wealth in the United States. Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, providing almost half of all jobs in the U.S. and creating nearly two-thirds of all new jobs. Yet barriers to credit access prevent Americans from starting businesses and building generational wealth, further widening the racial wealth gap. Congress and federal agencies are charged with enforcing fair lending laws and ensuring equitable access to capital, but don’t have the data they need to answer basic questions about small business lending...

On March 21, 2022, CRL submitted written testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations for the hearing, “ An Empirical Review of the Paycheck Protection Program .”