Press Releases
January 11, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, the partial government shutdown over funding of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border will become the longest shutdown in U.S. history— causing financial hardship for many of the roughly 800,000 federal employees who have been furloughed or working without pay since December 21, 2018.
According to a recent online report, unpaid federal workers already owe as much as $438 million in mortgage and rent payments this month. The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) believes it is unjust and unfair for federal employees and contractors to be deprived of their paychecks...
January 7, 2019
OAKLAND, CALIF. – In his inauguration speech earlier today, Governor Gavin Newsom criticized abusive payday lenders as special interest who target California’s most vulnerable populations, “…Polluters who threaten our coastline and pay-day lenders who target our most vulnerable…interests like these still have a tight grip on power. But here in California, we have the power to stand up to them – and we will.”
CRL has consistently fought against predatory lending practices across California, including abusive payday lenders. Previously, CRL announced that a DBO research report detailed how...
November 15, 2018
Broad Coalition has Urged Agency to Maintain Guidance That Guards Against Unaffordable Loans By Banks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) yesterday issued a Request for Information (RFI) on small-dollar lending by banks. Existing FDIC policies have kept predatory lending by FDIC-supervised banks largely at bay, and they should not be weakened. Civil rights, faith, and consumer groups have forcefully urged the FDIC to not allow banks to make loans that exceed 36% interest.
The RFI also asks about bank partnerships, which have been used to facilitate rent-a...
November 6, 2018
Campaign led by representatives of highly impacted communities garnered support from over 50 veterans’ groups, faith groups, lawmakers of both political parties, and both urban and rural communities
OAKLAND, C.A.– Coloradans have come together to stop predatory payday lending by passing a 36% cap on annual interest rates for payday loans. Today’s results make Colorado the fifth state to affirm an interest rate cap by ballot and the sixteenth state (plus the District of Columbia) to protect against predatory payday lending through reasonable usury limits.
In a campaign led by...
November 1, 2018
Film shows sky did not fall when payday lenders stopped charging 574% interest
South Dakota – A new 30-minute documentary released today by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), in cooperation with South Dakotans for Responsible Lending, follows the movement to cap the state’s payday, car title, and installment loan interest rates, which previously soared up to 574%. The film captures the relentless spirit of the broad coalition of South Dakotans that took on the firmly entrenched and well-financed predatory lending industry – and won. A resounding 76 percent of voters passed Initiated...
October 26, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Mick Mulvaney announced that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to move forward with gutting the agency’s rule to stop abusive payday lending and car-title loan debt traps. The announcement calls for the CFPB to reconsider both the rule's compliance date, as well as its core ability-to-repay provisions. A new proposal is expected in January 2019.
The payday lending rule, finalized last year under then-CFPB Director Richard Cordray, establishes basic consumer protections on these 300% or more interest loans, including the common-sense standard...
October 5, 2018
Payday Loan Sharks are Allied with New Leadership at the CFPB in Trying to Stop Consumer Safeguards
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalizing its rule to stop payday and car-title debt traps. It is the first-ever federal rule of its kind and came after more than five and a half years of development, as shown in this interactive timeline. At the heart of the rule is the common sense and widely-supported principle that lenders check a borrower’s ability to repay before issuing a loan.
The Center for Responsible...
September 11, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Bank recently rolled out its online Simple Loan product where borrowers can take out loans of $100 to $1,000. The borrower would be required to pay the loan back over three monthly installment payments with an annual percentage rate (APR) of 70% to 88%, well over the 36% APR cap that consumer advocates and civil rights organizations recommend. The 36% finds precedent in the Military Lending Act for loans to military servicemembers and in many state laws.
This product marks the first major rollout of a new national bank installment loan product since the OCC’s...
September 5, 2018
OAKLAND, CALIF. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is calling on California Governor Jerry Brown to veto AB 237, a bill which would expand unsound lending practices in ways that do not address the real needs of low income and underserved communities. In fact, the changes proposed in this bill put consumers at risk of unaffordable and even predatory loans of more than 100% annual percentage rate (APR).
The bill would raise the loan limits so that lenders under an existing pilot program can make larger loans, up to $7,500 without addressing ongoing concerns about high costs and has...
August 23, 2018
As Chair of FDIC considers policy, broad coalition urges regulators and banks to avoid toxic loans that trap consumers in debt
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Jelena McWilliams, is “reviewing whether to rescind guidelines for ‘deposit advance’ loans,” according to an interview she had with the Wall Street Journal. “Deposit advance” is a euphemism for bank payday loans, which – before the FDIC’s 2013 guidance – had triple-digit interest rates, lacked an ability-to-repay standard, and trapped consumers in debt. For this reason, consumer, civil...