Press Releases

The Center for Responsible Lending today commended North Carolina Commissioner of Banks Joseph A. Smith, Jr. and Attorney General Roy Cooper for launching investigations into whether payday lender Advance America is violating the state's usury laws. The Commissioner of Banks today issued a subpoena for Advance America President William M. Webster, IV or appropriate employees of the company to appear at a public hearing into the matter on October 5. Attorney General Cooper today issued an Investigative Demand to Advance America to turn over documents relating to its payday lending operations in

DURHAM, NC (June 16, 2004) -- Buying a home is the single largest purchase most Americans will make. Homeownership is also the primary way that families accumulate wealth and a symbol of financial success for many. June has been designated National Homeownership Month to celebrate this important achievement in the lives of American families and to encourage others to join their ranks. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 66.2 percent of Americans are homeowners, a two percent increase since 1990 -- the largest increase in homeownership since the 1950s. This increase is due in large part to a

View this document (PDF) The Center for Responsible Lending believes that binding arbitration clauses are incompatible with our nation's public policy in favor of an open and fair path to homeownership. BMA clauses can serve to protect unscrupulous lenders from the scrutiny of courts while they engage in activities that directly undermine homeownership and drain hard-earned assets from working families. -

Listen to payday lending telenews event (RealAudio) Durham, NC -- Unwary U.S. borrowers who rely upon high-interest payday lending for quick cash are caught in a "debt trap" that costs them $3.4 billion each year, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Entitled " Quantifying the Economic Cost of Predatory Payday Lending," the new CRL study is the first to estimate the annual toll on American consumers of payday lending fees. The payday lending industry (also known as "payday advance" or "cash advance") has experienced explosive growth in revenues, from $10 billion

WASHINGTON, DC, December 9, 2003 -- Consumer, civil rights and lending groups today hailed Freddie Mac's recent decision to ban mandatory arbitration clauses from all subprime loans it purchases. The groups include AARP, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), NAACP, Consumer Federation of America (CFA), National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ), US Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- State predatory lending laws, including North Carolina's first-of-its-kind legislation targeting abusive home mortgage terms, are working to protect consumers while not drying up the availability of credit to low-income borrowers, according to testimony delivered to Congress today by Self-Help Credit Union Senior Vice President George Brown, who also is spokesperson of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Brown also told those attending a joint hearing of the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit and the Subcommittee

DURHAM, NC -- Siding with groups of state officials such as the Conference of State Banking Supervisors, National Association of Attorneys General, and National Governors Association, a diverse group of leading civil rights and consumer organizations called on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today to withdraw its controversial proposal to preempt application of state anti-predatory lending laws to national banks and their subsidiaries. According to their comment letter, signed by organizations such as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), Center for

Listen to UNC study telenews event (RealAudio) Download the original 2003 report (PDF) CHAPEL HILL, NC -- The nation's first anti-predatory lending law -- the North Carolina statewide measure that took effect nearly three years ago on July 1, 2000 -- has significantly reduced harmful refinance loans containing abusive terms while not limiting access to subprime credit for homebuyers and low-credit score borrowers, according to a report by the Center for Community Capitalism (CCC) at the University of North Carolina (UNC). The UNC report revealed that loans in North Carolina containing

DURHAM, NC. -- Calling fee-based overdraft programs now being used by 1,000 banks and other financial institutions "a hidden and unfair tax on the most vulnerable depositors," 54 national advocacy groups -- including the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), National Community Reinvestment Coalition, National Consumer Law Center and ACORN -- are calling on the Federal Reserve Board to implement minimum disclosure and consumer protections for fee-based overdraft charges and "free checking" accounts. The Center for Responsible Lending also issued a consumer warning alerting consumers to the

Download the full report (PDF) DURHAM, N.C. -- North Carolina's 1999 landmark anti-predatory lending law, the first of its kind in the country, saved consumers at least $100 million in predatory lending costs in its first year without drying up the availability of subprime credit for low-income borrowers in the state, according to a new study released today by the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. Based on review of over 28 million home loans in all 50 states between 1998-2000 reported to federal regulators under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), the study found that: The law