Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C., -- Civil rights groups joined consumer organizations in opposing a bill in Congress that would gut protections against predatory lenders. That bill, introduced by Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio and Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, would make it easier for unscrupulous lenders to rob the nation's most vulnerable families of their homes and savings. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond urged lawmakers to reject the bill and pass instead a bill by Reps. Brad Miller and Mel Watt of North Carolina and Barney Frank of Massachusetts that strengthens defenses against predators. "Representatives Ney and

Download the Report Race Matters: The Concentration of Payday Lenders in African-American Neighborhoods in North Carolina DURHAM, NC -- Payday lenders who trap people in triple digit-interest loans locate their stores in African-American neighborhoods in higher concentrations, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). African-American neighborhoods in North Carolina have three times as many payday lenders per capita as white neighborhoods, even after controlling for variables associated with the industry's purported customer base such as income and homeownership. "This

Download the Report Race Matters: The Concentration of Payday Lenders in African-American Neighborhoods in North Carolina DURHAM, NC -- Payday lenders who trap people in triple digit-interest loans locate their stores in African-American neighborhoods in higher concentrations, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). African-American neighborhoods in North Carolina have three times as many payday lenders per capita as white neighborhoods, even after controlling for variables associated with the industry's purported customer base such as income and homeownership. "This

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new bill in Congress would demolish many of the protections states and the federal government have carefully erected against predatory lenders and would expose millions of homebuyers to the loss of their savings and even their homes. The bill by Congressmen Robert Ney of Ohio and Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania would preempt state laws proven effective at curbing abusive lending and replace them with a weak federal standard. The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy and research group, urges Congress to reject this bill in its current form, which

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A bill by Rep. Brad Miller, Rep. Mel Watt and Rep. Barney Frank, the ranking Democrat on the House Finance Committee, would protect homeowners from predatory lenders far better than current federal law, says the Center for Responsible Lending. The bill is modeled on a North Carolina law that has reduced predatory loans and would eliminate current loopholes in federal law. The bill discourages lenders from charging exorbitant fees or prepayment penalties that keep borrowers from refinancing at a lower interest rate or strip wealth from savings; prohibits "flipping" –

View this document (PDF) Ernst & Young LLP recently released a report discussing the outcomes of binding mandatory arbitration ("BMA") in credit-related, consumer-initiated arbitration cases.1 As an increasingly standard contract provision, consumers often unknowingly or feel compelled to accept pre-dispute BMA clauses in their contracts. These clauses strip consumers of their right to dispute claims in a court with a jury of their peers and provides corporations with substantial advantages to defend against their misdeeds. The Center's evaluation of the Ernst & Young report questions the

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Borrowers who need protection from triple-digit interest rates when they overdraw their bank accounts won't get it from federal regulators, who are asking financial institutions to police themselves. Now it is up to the Federal Reserve Board to provide at least one important protection to borrowers by requiring banks and other financial institutions to disclose the annual percentage rate on these loans. The nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending called on the Fed to require banks to disclose interest rates on these loans and on regulators to replace the weak

Download the Reports Borrowers in Higher Minority Areas More Likely to Receive Prepayment Penalties on Subprime Loans (PDF 364kb) Prepayment Penalties Convey No Interest Rate Benefits on Subprime Mortgages (PDF 351kb) DURHAM, N.C. -- People with subprime home loans who live in minority neighborhoods face 35 percent greater odds of being saddled with prepayment penalties than borrowers living in predominantly white neighborhoods, according to new research from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Also today, CRL reports findings -- in direct contradiction to subprime mortgage industry

A broad coalition of civil rights and consumer groups calls on Citigroup to end the abusive practice of requiring borrowers to submit to mandatory arbitration to resolve complaints on home loans in order to make the "best practices" announced by Citigroup today a reality. The groups calling on Citigroup to eliminate mandatory arbitration in subprime mortgage loans include: AARPLeadership Conference on Civil RightsNAACPConsumer Federation of AmericaNational Association of Consumer Advocates National Consumer Law Center Consumers UnionUS Public Interest Research GroupNational Fair Housing

Some subprime loans are predatory, and an effective law that eliminates predatory loans will reduce the number of subprime originations accordingly. Showing a different growth rate than two other states without examining loan terms, as the MBA study itself acknowledges, fails to answer the real question of whether the NC law helps homeowners protect their homes from abusive lending while retaining access to credit. The only study that examines loan terms to determine whether the NC law reduced the frequency of predatory lending was conducted by the University of North Carolina. [1] This study