CRL in the News
The Center for Responsible Lending, a left-leaning nonprofit, advocates for wide credit access and is calling for highly regulated versions of Fannie and Freddie to be preserved. The group says it’s so unclear what the Trump administration wants that next year is likely to end up looking much like 2018.
There’s reason to think Congress might eventually try again, but lawmakers didn’t really get serious about Fannie and Freddie until about five years ago, CRL President Mike Calhoun said. “These major pieces of legislation usually take a decade.’’
NPR’s David Greene speaks to Rep. Jeb Hensarling and the Center for Responsible Lending’s Debbie Goldstein about the vote to repeal CFPB guidance meant to protect car buyers from discriminatory loans.
"Education alone cannot stop predatory behaviors on the part of for-profit schools and servicers, nor can it help hundreds of thousands of Americans in serious debt because of these practices," said Whitney Barkley-Denney, senior policy counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending.
Rebecca Borne, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit devoted to promoting fair lending practices, said repealing the consumer provisions will send “a really damaging message” to auto lenders that the federal government is not serious about enforcing anti-discrimination laws.
“Although it occurs, it’s rare for people to be openly racist. Most of the discrimination happens in a manner that the only way to prevent it is through disparate impact enforcement,” said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending. “And if you say no disparate impact enforcement, you’re largely saying no discrimination enforcement at all.”
Mick Mulvaney, President Trump's acting head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, for example, has been openly contemptuous of the agency he now runs.
"We just have seen a general retreat from enforcing the fair lending laws and ensuring that fair housing opportunities are available to everyone," said Melissa Stegman, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending.
"Overturning the auto lending guidance just opened the door to uncertainty across federal agencies that use rules and guidance to protect the public from financial predators," said Rebecca Borné, an attorney with the Center for Responsible Lending.
Republicans lawmakers are expected to overturn a rule designed to prevent discrimination by auto lenders. It’s part of a broader effort to roll back other regs using the Congressional Review Act.
"Mick Mulvaney has just told bankers he can hide their misconduct from the public by making the complaint database private," said Debbie Goldstein, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending. "If he does so, he will be making it easier for predatory lenders to fleece consumers. That would violate the mission that Congress gave the consumer bureau: to protect consumers and make markets more transparent."
Debbie Goldstein, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, told me such practices have been an open secret in the auto industry for many years.
"People just aren't treated with fairness and respect by dealers," she said.