CRL in the News

In the United States, charging an APR of 455 percent on a consumer credit card is virtually unheard of — and in some cases, would be illegal, said David Silberman, a senior fellow at the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. Twenty states plus D.C. set limits on the interest rates that payday lenders may charge; the highest of these is...

States are starting to grapple with purportedly new categories of small-dollar loans: earned wage advances and other types of fintech cash advances. Their approach will determine if workers and consumers will be protected from spiraling fees that drain low wages or if a new kind of payday loan will be allowed to operate outside of laws against high-cost lending.

Stigma around credit cards has driven people away from them, even though they are better regulated and come with fraud protections and other perks, said Peter Smith, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer-advocacy group.

But the use of BNPL comes with risks for consumers, similar to any other financial tool. TheStreet spoke to Center for Responsible Learning (CRL) senior litigation and policy counsel Nadine Chabrier and WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe to understand what entices consumers to use BNPL and the important information consumers need to know about the growing product.

Nadine Chabrier, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, worries about consumers who take out multiple BNPL loans. “It’s easy to lose track, and you can quickly be in a situation where you have payments due all over the month,” Chabrier told Checkbook. “You don’t get a statement, and you may end up getting overdraft fees if you...

In materials promoting the new service, Apple says Apple Pay Later was 'designed with users' financial health in mind'. But advocates are skeptical. 'The very use of the product itself does lead to a decline in financial health,' Nadine Chabrier, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, told DailyMail.com.

“They are moving in several ways at once to eliminate the cop on the beat — or the effectiveness of the cop on the beat — to keep people from being trapped in unaffordable debt,” said Ellen Harnick, an executive vice president at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit that has advocated for the agency.

Mitria Spotser, vice president and director of federal policy at the Center for Responsible Lending, called for more regulations with regard to EWA and BNPL. “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” she said. “Buy now, pay later, early wage access – they look, act and function...

Under the current CRA rules, around 90% of banks receive a “satisfactory” grade and 10% receive “outstanding” marks, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition estimated in a comment letter to the agencies. A “needs to improve” or “substantial noncompliance” score is exceedingly rare. “It was pretty easy to get a pass on CRA exams,” said Mitria Spotser, federal policy director at...

The Center for Responsible Lending helped write the report. The group's spokesperson, Rochelle Sparko, said they're urging judges to waive civil penalties for those unable to pay them. "It is our position that this is a far better outcome for folks who truly are indigent, then converting fines and fees to a civil judgment largely because of those long term...