Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), co-authored a research report finding that student loan debt is unsustainable for many student borrowers, especially borrowers of color. The research paper, titled Quicksand: Borrowers Of Color & The Student Debt Crisis, offers policy recommendations to reform our country’s broken and inefficient student loan system, close the racial wealth gap, and ensure that the system is fair to all students. The report was released in conjunction with NAACP’s 110th

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, two years after the massive Equifax data breach, the credit monitoring agency has agreed to a settlement of up to $700 million. The agreement includes at least $400 million in consumer relief, $175 million to states, and $100 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in civil penalties. CRL Director of State Policy and Executive Vice President Diane Standaert released the following statement: The consequences of this data breach will be lasting, and it only underscores the need for rigorous oversight and reform over credit monitoring agencies. Consumers don

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released A Smarter Qualified Mortgage Can Benefit Borrowers, Taxpayers, and the Economy, a report urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to take timely steps to ensure widespread access to safe and sustainable loans. Unless the CFPB revises its mortgage rule under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act), an expiring provision will cause a significant number of mortgages to face new legal liability, and these loans likely would not be originated at all or would have

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), and National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) late yesterday submitted a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger urging her not to weaken the Federal Reserve Board’s 2009 overdraft “opt in” rule. Under the Rule, which went into effect

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Executive Vice President Debbie Goldstein released the following statement today after the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced her decision to rescind the agency’s Gainful Employment Rule: Betsy DeVos’ decision to eliminate this important education protection is a disservice to the public and only serves to put corporate interests ahead of struggling students and taxpayers. Over the past few years, and after a rigorous review process, the Obama Administration proposed and finalized the Gainful Employment Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Representatives Susie Lee (D-Nev.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced the Preventing Risky Operations from Threatening the Education and Career Trajectories of (PROTECT) Students Act of 2019, a bill to protect higher education students by improving oversight and accountability of predatory institutions, including for-profit colleges and universities. This legislation is a House version of the PROTECT Students Act of 2019 introduced by U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) in March. "We applaud Reps. Lee and DeLauro for

WASHINGTON, DC – Today Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) released its annual report, The State of the Nation’s Housing 2019. (PDF) Published annually since 1988, this year’s report again identifies recent trends and issues facing the housing industry. Key to this year’s findings are: In 2019, the cost of a median-priced home rose by 4% to $261,600, outpacing the growth of median household income for the seventh straight year. The price-to-income ratios rose in 85 of the nation’s largest markets last year. More than 60% of home mortgages issued in the second half of

WASHINGTON, DC – Over two dozen faith leaders from around the country and two former borrowers met with the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Kathy Kraninger, today at CFPB headquarters in Washington. The group asked Director Kraninger to give great consideration to the people harmed by payday lending, as a CFPB proposal threatens to gut landmark reform of the triple-digit interest rate loans that payday lenders make, which was scheduled to take effect this summer. The meeting comes less than two weeks after the CFPB announced it will delay for fifteen months

Letters come after news that regulators pursuing joint small-dollar policy Growing concern that several Administration appointees may be giving green light for predatory loans WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible (CRL) joined a coalition of national consumer and civil rights groups in writing to top banking regulators on the importance of preventing banks from once again issuing payday loans that trap people in a cycle of debt. The groups pointed to a recent letter from more than 400 organizations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which “ prominently stressed

CFPB is required to consider comments on its plan, which would eliminate protections from 300%+ APR payday loan debt traps House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing held on the proposal WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), as part of a coalition of civil rights, consumer, and labor groups, submitted an official comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), excoriating CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger’s plan to gut a 2017 CFPB rule that was issued to stop payday loan debt traps. The coalition’s comment letter is a comprehensive rebuttal to