Student loan plan will take burden off people of color

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The Philadelphia Tribune
“This is the first step in overhauling our federal student aid system and understanding that the student debt crisis has been a drastic burden from many people, especially people of color,” said Jaylon Herbin, outreach associate and policy manager for the Center for Responsible Lending.

Advocates, student borrowers celebrate loan forgiveness; will fight for more

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Basil John | WRBL CBS
Center for Responsible Lending Policy and Outreach Manager Jaylon Herbin had 60,000 dollars in loans. “Yesterday’s announcement alleviated about 10,000 dollars worth but there’s still a lot that I still have to pay off,” Herbin said. Herbin supports more loan forgiveness and he’s not alone. A recent NewsNation poll found 64 percent of Americans are at least somewhat supportive of forgiving up to 100 thousand dollars of student debt. “50,000 dollars would’ve eliminated about 76% of the borrowers student debt,” Herbin said.

How many in Charlotte will qualify for student loan forgiveness? One NC expert weighs in

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Evan Santiago | The Charlotte Observer
The Center for Responsible Lending says that there are 1.3 million borrowers in North Carolina who owe a collective amount of $48 billion, the Observer reported. Biden’s plan will alleviate a large portion of debt for a significant amount of Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents, according to most recent U.S. Census Bureau data and criteria outlined by the U.S. Department of Education.

Progressive groups urge regulators to reject TD-First Horizon deal

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Jordan Stutts | American Banker
The Center for Responsible Lending and 11 other progressive groups urged U.S. regulators to reject Toronto-Dominion Bank's proposed acquisition of First Horizon Corp., arguing that the $13.4 billion deal would harm low-income communities and reduce small- business lending. In a letter to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the groups also cited the bank's overdraft-fee practices and made the case that large bank consolidation adds to systemic risk.

Bank of America’s overdraft fees down 90% under new policy

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Ken Sweet | Associated Press
“(BofA) is miles ahead of what Wells and Chase have done. Both of them did some reforms, we certainly applaud those changes, but they are still charging the $35 fee,” said Mike Calhoun, head of the Center for Responsible Lending and a long-time critic of overdraft fee practices. Calhoun sits on an advisory board that includes several other consumer advocacy groups that advised BofA on the changes.

Will 'buy now, pay later' put a generation of young Americans in a debt trap?

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Teddy Ostrow | Deutsche Welle
Taylor Roberson, federal policy counsel at consumer advocacy group Center for Responsible Lending, told DW: "One of the most positive aspects of the product has to do with the potential for consumers who pay on time to have that payment history positively recorded on their credit reports. And that's perhaps where the benefits end." Roberson explained how at present, consumers are not rewarded by credit rating agencies for paying BNPL loans on time, partly because these lenders are not required to report their data like other lenders.

It's up to regulators to stamp out excessive overdraft fees

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Michael Calhoun | American Banker
Financial institutions rake in billions annually from overdraft fees. Some banks and credit unions recently have curbed or ended these fees for their customers — for which they should be commended — but many more depository institutions quietly continue overdraft practices that, at their best, nickel-and-dime consumers and, at their worst, cause devastating, lasting harm to financially vulnerable families. Overdraft charges are too important to the bottom line to expect that urging these institutions to “do the right thing” will suffice. This is a systemic problem that requires strong action

Buy now, pay later often means you just pay more

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Emily Stewart | Vox
“It is marketed as interest-free, but consumers can find that they end up being charged more than they think they will,” said Nadine Chabrier, senior policy and litigation counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. “Should they lose track of their payments or have multiple buy now, pay later purchases, they can get return payment fees, missed payment fees, account reactivation, rescheduling, all kinds of hidden fees that they weren’t aware of at the outset.”

Banks Fear Top Grades Out of Reach in Community Lending Rewrite

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Evan Weinberger | Bloomberg Law
The Center for Responsible Lending said in its comment letter that the current grading system wasn’t rigorous enough. But the advocacy organization also agreed with the bank groups that the proposal was too tough, noting that “no bank with $50 billion in assets would currently achieve” an outstanding score under the proposal.