The Companies That Take Money Straight From Your Paycheck

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Ron Lieber | The New York Times
“How does the underwriting work?” said Nadine Chabrier, a senior policy and litigation counsel for the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. “What are the fees, and how are they disclosed? Are they complying with state and federal debt collection rules? Are they investigating credit report inaccuracies? Are there deceptive practices in the marketing? And what are the interest rates?”

California can lead in ending exploitative overdraft fees

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Andrew Kushner | East Bay Times
California is rightly considered a leader in technology, culture and public policy. For instance, our state famously broke new ground in the 1960s with auto emissions standards that the federal government later adopted. California must once again take the lead, this time to stop banks and credit unions from ripping off consumers with overdraft fees. Even as some banks and credit unions have cut back on overdraft fees, many depository institutions keep this gravy train running. The size of the fee — usually around $35 for each overdraft — far exceeds the cost to the depository. Absent policy

The Buy Now, Pay Later Juggernaut Is About to Be Tested

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Esmé E Deprez, Evan Weinberger, and Jennifer Surane | Bloomberg
The industry has faced accusations that it emotionally manipulates users and glamorizes debt, using social media influencers to drive adoption and marketing slogans such as this one from 2018: “Broke AF but strongly support treating yourself? Afterpay is now instore.” Using pay-in-four for groceries and other everyday essentials suggests economic precariousness, says Andrew Kushner, policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending in Oakland, Calif. That, he says, reinforces the need for stronger protections, “so it’s not going to cause more harm down the line.”

The Daily Money: Thinking of using a buy now, pay later plan? Good luck getting a refund.

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Jayme Deerwester | USA Today
It can be difficult to get a refund if something goes wrong with the purchase, according to Charla Rios, deputy director of research at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about financial products. “They don't come with the same protections of credit cards, so the consumer may end up with no merchandise at all, but still have their money taken out of their accounts," she says.

Buy now, pay later refunds on apps like Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna frustrate consumers

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Katie Wedell | USA Today
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps have quickly risen in popularity – accounting for $142 billion in e-commerce transactions last year, according to a report from Worldpay. But some customers have reported that it can be difficult to get a refund if something goes wrong with the purchase, according to Charla Rios, deputy director of research at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about financial products.

The racial justice argument for student debt relief

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Jaylon Herbin & Wisdom Cole | The Hill
To take her first steps onto the storied yard of her dream school, Bianca Jones didn’t just get the grades and write a strong application; she applied for five different types of financial aid, including a work –study position. She took on additional jobs, but still came up short of what she needed to pay for her Howard University education, so both she and her mother took out loans to make it possible.

Adjustable-rate mortgage vs. fixed-rate mortgage: ‘It’s amazing what people don’t know about mortgages’

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Leslie Albrecht | Marketwatch
ARMs today are less risky, thanks in part to borrower protections established by the Dodd-Frank Act, according to Ricard Pochkhanawala, senior policy counsel at the National Center for Responsible Lending. Dodd-Frank required lenders to fully document a borrower’s income and assets and their ability to repay an ARM before the loan was made, and it said that borrowers must qualify for the loan based on the fully-indexed rate, not the introductory or “teaser” interest rate. Dodd-Frank was enacted more than a decade ago, but I mention it because its protections are a valuable reminder that when

Why super long mortgages won't be a thing, and why that's good news

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Jim Dalrymple II | Inman
Very long mortgages are unlikely to become a big thing in the U.S. One of the main obstacles that stands between American consumers and longer mortgages is a set of regulations that emerged after the financial crisis of 2008. Eric Stein, senior vice president at the Center for Responsible Lending, told Inman that in the run-up to the housing bubble there were products known as “affordability mortgages.”

Klarna to open Los Angeles pop-up shop

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Tatiana Walk-Morris | Retail Dive
In response to the risks posed by the BNPL industry, a push for regulation has also emerged. In March, 77 nonprofit organizations, including the Center for Responsible Lending and the Association for Financial Counseling & Family Education, called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to implement stronger regulations on buy now, pay later companies. For its part, the CFPB has urged credit reporting bureaus to standardize procedures for reporting consumers’ buy now, pay later transactions.

Gaming your finances to get the perfect credit score

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Marketplace Tech
“So at a high level, we sort of know,” said David Silberman, a senior fellow at the Center for Responsible Lending, “but precisely what, what ‘credit history’ means and how it’s scored? Or what ‘types of credit’ means and how it’s scored? That’s all black box.” Nevertheless, there is an entire industry promising easy fixes to improve credit scores, some which work, and some that don’t. Credit scoring companies are aware of most of these strategies, and regularly update their models to account for new types of data and changing consumer behaviors.