CRL in the News

Groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Center for Responsible Lending, and the Consumer Federation of America have endorsed the bill.

The nonprofit research group Center for Responsible Lending said changes proposed by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could hurt Georgia’s military service members. The federal agency’s interim director Mick Mulvaney said he doesn’t want his agency to be responsible for enforcing the Military Lending Act by proactively supervising banks, credit card companies, and other lenders.

A report from the Center for Responsible Lending, “The State of For-Profit Colleges,” presents a state-by-state analysis of for-profit schools in America, and reveals that students in for-profit schools are generally less likely to graduate, more likely to borrow, are deeper in debt, more likely to default an have poor outcomes than students in public and private 4-year colleges. Further...

Majorities of Republican and Democratic voters view the nation’s $1.5 trillion outstanding student loan debt as a “crisis,” according to a new poll commissioned by Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending. The poll, being released this morning, also shows bipartisan concern over efforts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to scale back efforts to protect student...

Additionally, Scott Astrada—federal advocacy director for the CRL—noted “…If its recommendations are adopted, more Americans would be pulled into deceptive, 100%+ APR loans with high-default rates. These products allow lender profits to soar as the borrower is pulled down into a financial free fall often resulting in involuntary bank account closure, a ruined credit score, and bankruptcy.”

In 2013, the state created a small-dollar loan program to regulate loans between $300 and $2,500. The state caps interest on those loans between 20 and 30 percent, but any loan above $2,500 is the “real Wild, Wild West,” said Graciela Aponte-Diaz, California policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit focused on consumer lending.

“Before Mick Mulvaney’s tenure at the agency, the CFPB was a champion for working families – giving back billions of dollars in relief to consumers who were cheated by financial companies,” noted Mike Calhoun, CRL president.

As debit cards gained popularity, banks initially rejected transactions if users didn’t have enough money in their accounts, explained Rebecca Borne, of the Center for Responsible Lending, who contributed to the bill as well. Institutions quickly discovered, however, that enabling such transactions to go through and charging the customer a subsequent overdraft fee could be a handy source of income.

“It’s been such a cash cow for banks. They’re deeply committed to their overdraft revenue,” said Rebecca Borne of the Center for Responsible Lending, who also contributed to the bill.

Whether more lending options for consumers is a good thing depends on the quality of those products, says Rebecca Borne, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending.