CRL in the News

“Frankly the direct-to-consumer model is just a garden variety payday loan,” said Andrew Kushner, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending.

“The CFPB’s funding structure is constitutional and critical to ensuring that it can carry out its consumer protection mission free from undue industry influence,” wrote community development credit unions and financial institutions in a May amicus brief.

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) commends President Biden for exploring new options to provide relief. In the meantime, here are eight ways borrowers can prepare for repayment...

Banks that are starting to work with EWA providers to streamline connections for their commercial customers should pay close attention to what's happening in this tug-of-war over whether EWA will be considered a loan or not—according to Andrew Kushner, who is policy counsel of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending, which analyzes financial practices and works with the industry and...

Consumer advocates like Andrew Kushner, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, argue that some EWA services essentially act as payday loans--or "short-term, high-cost loans," as defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau--and should be treated with the same regulatory scrutiny.

Harper’s remarks could be read as a thinly veiled criticism of CUNA and NAFCU for allying themselves with payday lenders and banks in attempts to strip the CFPB of its independence, moves that the Center for Responsible Lending has said would render the CFPB toothless.

Consumer advocates largely supported the CFPB’s framing of abusive practices. They called for tightening up some areas of the policy, including how the CFPB views a company’s intent when determining whether it’s taking “unreasonable advantage” of a consumer. “The policy statement recognizes that ‘intent is not a required element to show material interference’ but the Statement is not explicit on...

You should also determine which company is servicing your federal loan or loans so you’ll know whom to pay. Jaylon Herbin, director of federal campaigns for the Center for Responsible Lending, said there has been a lot of turnover among loan servicers in the 38 months since borrowers were last required to make a payment.

More than 37,800 student loan borrowers who were tricked by a student loan debt relief operation soon will share more than $3.3 million in restitution, thanks to enforcement action announced in mid-June by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

About 41 million student loan borrowers who would have been eligible for loan relief totaling nearly $3.9 billion, according to the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), will now need to start paying back that debt in the fall. This also comes at a time when borrowers are now living through higher inflation and fears of a recession—factors likely to create...