CRL in the News

“Debt settlement is specifically aimed at encouraging people to not pay their debts in hope that the company can reduce the debt load,” said Ellen Harnick with the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending. “The problem is that hope is very often not realized and certainly not realized for all of the debts the person has now just defaulted on.”...

Nonetheless, consumer advocates are alarmed by the burgeoning industry’s practices, and the lack of government oversight. Organizations such as the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending consider EWA providers to be a new form of payday lending that charges excessive fees and traps low-income workers in a cycle of debt.

“The consumer that we serve has not changed in a profound way. They’re not in their personal recession, they’re not struggling to make their bills on time. They’re not telling us, ‘I need help’. It just has not changed,” said Levchin. He also specifically expressed support for a national 36 per cent annual percentage rate cap on BNPL and credit...

Today, Connecticut's law continues to be a focal point for both industry groups and consumer advocacy groups. Industry groups want to make regulation more inclusive so that more consumers can use EWA and intend on reengaging with the legislature during the next session, while some consumer advocacy groups have hailed the requirements. "Connecticut is what we would have called the...

In 2023, Nevada had the fifth-highest average annual interest rate for payday loans at 548 percent, according to a report from the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit that opposes the practice. From February 2022 to January 2023, around 150,000 payday loans were made in the state, about 15 percent of which were paid after the due date, according to...

“Ten years later, some new servicer is contacting them and telling them, you owe me $500,000 — pay now,” says Mitria Spotser of the Center for Responsible Lending. In a nationwide analysis of property records dating back to 2002, Bloomberg News found thousands of US families have received these claims, and more than 600,000 second mortgages from the early 2000s...

A new study highlights how Big Tech is trying to further strip Americans of their hard-earned money by enticing them to enroll in predatory payday loan apps that allow workers early access to their paychecks. The Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer protection nonprofit, found that “earned-wage access” users became ensnared in a borrowing cycle that, on average, left them...

The new Center for Responsible Lending report, exclusively shared with Fintech Business Weekly in advance of its publication today, uses a longitudinal approach to attempt to answer the question, how are a user’s financial health and behavior impacted after taking their first direct-to-consumer earned wage advance?

“The administration’s attempts to dismantle the nation’s only consumer financial protection watchdog will expose millions of households to excessive fees and financial predators and increase risks to the nation’s financial system,” said Mike Calhoun, president at the Center for Responsible Lending, in a statement responding to the appeals court ruling.

You should also monitor StudentAid.gov and your loan servicer’s website for updates, said Jaylon Herbin, director of federal campaigns at the Center for Responsible Lending. “Be wary of conflicting information, as even official sources have provided inconsistent guidance during recent transitions,” Herbin said.