Press Releases

Washington, DC – Martin Eakes, chief executive officer of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), today announced that Laura Arce has joined the board of directors of the nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy advocacy organization that works to promote financial fairness and economic opportunity for all, end predatory lending, and close the racial wealth gap. Ms. Arce is senior vice president for Economic Initiatives at UnidosUS. She rejoined UnidosUS in 2022 to develop, launch, and lead the “Home Ownership Means Equity” (HOME) Initiative – a multi‐year institutional priority that seeks

Washington, D.C. — Enrolling in the Department of Education’s latest income-driven repayment plan, Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE), could revive the homeownership dreams of millions of low- and moderate-income student loan borrowers, according to a joint report released today by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and California Policy Lab. The reduction of monthly debt payments due to SAVE can improve a borrower’s debt-to-income (DTI) ratio (total monthly debts divided by gross income). A lower DTI is a favorable factor for lenders when deciding whether to approve a mortgage loan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a proposed rule to require the nation’s largest banks and credit unions to comply with consumer credit protections for their overdraft programs. “The CFPB’s proposal would rein in a junk fee that has gouged financially vulnerable families for far too long,” said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). “High-cost overdraft fees exploit consumers right when they are out of funds. In moving to protect consumers from this harm, the CFPB is carrying out its mission." Calhoun added, “We

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate today failed to override the presidential veto of S.J.Res. 32, a Republican-led Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) implementation of Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Sec. 1071 is a sunshine provision requiring large lenders to collect and report demographic data on small business loans. While Section 1071 was part of the Dodd-Frank Act passed more than a decade ago, the rule for this provision was only finalized last year. The CFPB’s final 1071 rule, which mirrors existing requirements for

Bill to establish interest rate cap with wide bipartisan popularity among voters WASHINGTON, D.C. – Advocates at the Center for Responsible Lending, National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Federation of America, and Americans for Financial Reform applaud U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and more than a dozen Senate cosponsors for introducing the Predatory Lending Elimination Act, which extends to veterans and all consumers the 36% annual percentage rate cap found in the Military Lending Act and prevents the use of junk fees to hide high-cost loans. “We commend Senator Reed for introducing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, along with Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) and additional bipartisan cosponsors, reintroduced the Close the Shadow Banking Loophole Act , a bill to require that industrial loan companies (ILCs) abide by the same rules, supervision, and consumer protections as traditional banks. “We commend Chairman Brown and Senator Kennedy’s bipartisan effort to close the loophole allowing Industrial Loan Companies to evade oversight.  This bill advances the basic principle that

WASHINGTON – Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its final rule targeting deceptive conduct in the sale and financing of motor vehicles, titled the “Combatting Auto Retail Scams” (CARS) Rule. After a decade of attempts to fix a broken auto marketplace, the FTC announced in July 2022 that it was pursuing an auto dealer rule aimed at ending bait and switch pricing tactics and junk fees in the form of worthless add-on products and services. After receiving over 25,000 comments from the public and widespread support for addressing auto dealer misconduct, the FTC has published its

CHICAGO – Tomorrow morning, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the appeal of a fair lending enforcement action brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against Chicago mortgage lender Townstone Financial. The appealed decision upends 50 years of fair lending law, concluding that lenders are free to discourage minority consumers from seeking credit without violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. This errant decision is not only wrong - it endangers equitable access to participation in our economy and legalizes discrimination. Ahead of oral

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House today passed a resolution, S.J.Res. 32, under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Section 1071 rule of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires financial institutions to collect and report data on credit applications to the Bureau and the public. President Biden has indicated that he would veto the CRA bill if sent to him for signature. S.J.Res. 32 passed the U.S. Senate in October. Mitria Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) made the following

Earned Wage Advances Should Comply with State Interest Rate Limits Now, Not in Four Years SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) should restore cost limits for earned wage advances and other fintech cash advances under proposed regulations rather than allow a temporary registration regime with no cost limits for up to four years, the Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Federation of California, National Consumer Law Center, and Office of Kat Taylor said in comments filed late yesterday. “The DFPI has seen through industry myths and recognizes