“I hope (Smith) starts off a trend,” former Spelman College president Beverly Tatum said Monday.
CRL in the News
May 20, 2019
| By Eric Stirgus | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Education experts hope billionaire Robert F. Smith’s surprise announcement Sunday that he’ll pay the student loan debt for this spring’s graduating class at Morehouse College will be a game changer.
May 17, 2019
| By Claire Williams | Morning Consult
A coalition of consumer and labor groups is challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to ease an Obama-era restriction on payday lenders, using language that suggests there are legal grounds to block the new rule.
CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger in February introduced the bureau’s proposed plan to effectively unwind regulation imposing underwriting standards on payday lenders, which was originally supposed to go into effect Aug. 19. The proposed rule has been championed by payday and auto title lenders but opposed by consumer groups.
May 17, 2019
| By John L. Micek | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Advocates from across the country are sounding off on what they say are efforts by the Trump administration to weaken protections against predatory payday lending, which sees borrowers pay skyrocketing interest rates, locking them into an inescapable cycle of debt.
Under a rule set to go into effect later this year, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will rescind an Obama-era requirement that lenders first determine a borrower’s ability to pay before they give them a loan.
May 17, 2019
| By Casey Bond | Huffington Post
While the 2020 hopefuls have been focused on introducing new legislation, the current administration is working to reverse some existing laws.
May 16, 2019
| By Sasha Abramsky | Truthout
Seven out of 10 GOP primary voters are sympathetic to the main ideas of the Loan Shark Prevention Act introduced last week by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a Business Insider poll.
May 16, 2019
| By Andy O’Brien | The Free Press
Last week, the Maine House voted on party lines to pass LD 103, which would direct the Department of Education to conduct a review of for-profit colleges and universities to determine whether adequate educational standards are being met. If the for-profit college is not meeting the standards, the state would be authorized to revoke the degree-granting authority of the college.
May 14, 2019
| By PYMNTS.com
The battle over payday lending — specifically, how tough U.S. federal rule will be in governing the industry — is heating up as an important deadline looms. Letters favorable to the payday lending industry reportedly are flooding in to authorities before the May 15 cutoff for public comment regarding a proposed policy change.
May 14, 2019
| By Eric Litke | PolitiFact
Ramping up his latest push for the White House, Bernie Sanders is taking aim at high interest rates on credit cards and payday loans.
The Vermont senator introduced legislation in May 2019 — along with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — that would cap both rates at 15%.
May 13, 2019
| By Robin Bravender | NC Policy Watch
WASHINGTON – Rep. Patrick McHenry has been representing western North Carolina in the U.S. House since he was 29 years old.
The 10th District Republican, now 43, has long been considered a rising star among House GOP lawmakers. He’s worked in leadership as Republicans’ chief deputy whip, and he’s often labeled as an aspiring Speaker of the House. He’s got a lifetime rating of 93 percent from the American Conservative Union.
Now, he’s got a new platform: adversary-in-chief to House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters.
May 11, 2019
| By Annie Nova | CNBC
Lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it easier for student loan borrowers to cancel their debt in bankruptcy.
The measure, which is supported by 14 Democrats, one Republican and one independent, is dubbed the Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act of 2019.