Press Releases

The economic crisis in our country has been deep and its impact devastating. Today, the U.S. Senate responded boldly by passing the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S.3217), which protects families and small businesses from unfair financial practices and guards against regulatory lapses like those that led to the largest taxpayer–funded bailout in U.S. history. Before the President...

Washington, D.C. --- As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on financial reform, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today that serious mortgage delinquencies—those at least 90 days past due or in foreclosure—remained at record levels during the first quarter. These latest statistics show that one in 10 borrowers is seriously delinquent on their mortgage, up from one in 14 borrowers...

Over the past year, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) has hosted numerous conversations with faith communities as part of its "Faith and Credit" program. In a letter delivered to Senators today, sixteen Christian leaders with decades of experience providing housing services and financial counseling urged legislators to enact reforms that protect against abusive lending practices targeting low-income households. "From...

Credit card borrowers who pay more than the minimum payment each month can reap big savings under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, a Center for Responsible Lending analysis finds. (For the full analysis, http://www.responsiblelending.org /research-publication/capitalizing-new-consumer.) Under the new law, known as the Credit CARD Act, borrowers can pay down existing credit card debt sooner by...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is proud of its work to halt predatory lending and help Americans build and protect their financial wealth and security. For seven years we have worked successfully to ensure that mortgage loans are fair and affordable, reduce unfair credit card fees and tricks, rein in 400% interest payday loans, and eliminate abusive debit card...

The Center for Responsible Lending commends the U.S. Treasury Department for making "Hardest Hit Funds" available to housing finance agencies in five additional states: Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, and Rhode Island. This follows a similar action in February to provide funding to California, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada. This second round of state funding comes on the heels...

"We welcome the Administration's stronger actions to stabilize the housing market, particularly doing more to lower loan balances on homes worth less than the mortgage. Foreclosures dragged us into the recession, and until we stop them, the economy will not recover and most homeowners will watch their hard-earned home equity drain away. Since 2007, we have had 6.6 million foreclosures...

"Bank of America's (BofA) new program to reduce loan balances for a defined group of distressed homeowners highlights our nation's very serious foreclosure situation. Today, nearly 1 in 4 homeowners is struggling to stay in a home that's worth less than their mortgage. BofA's initiative responds to a widelyacknowledged reality: reducing a loan's principal balance is a crucial tool for...

"Yesterday's vote by the Senate Banking Committee to move forward with financial reform sends an important message that Congress must change the rules so that consumers are protected from unfair practices, our economy is protected from the damage of bad lending, and taxpayers won't have to pay for another Wall Street bailout. We are encouraged by the bipartisan collaboration between...

CRL commends Chairman Dodd in crafting a financial reform bill that addresses the deceptive lending practices and regulatory failures that have caused millions of families to lose their homes, decreased access to credit for small business owners and cost state and local governments billions in lost revenue. To effectively remedy the lapses that wrecked our economy and resulted in the...