Federal Reserve and FDIC Chairs Warn Wall Street Push for Looser Rules Threatens Stability

Fed Chair Yellen, Vice Chair Fischer, FDIC Chair Gruenberg, and European Center Bank President Draghi Defend Safeguards Enacted After Financial Crisis WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) highlighted that central bank leaders and the Chair of the FDIC have recently sounded the alarm over proposals to eliminate regulatory safeguards established after the financial crisis and refuted the claim that these protections have been a significant drag on economic growth and lending. The House of Representatives has already passed legislation that would roll back the Dodd

Advocates File Amicus Brief To Defend Consumers Against Capital One Overdraft Fee Practice

Roberts v. Capital One Financial Corporation alleges bank misled customers; Capital One’s practice of multiplying overdraft fees harms low-income customers, drives people from banking system WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and New Economy Project filed an amicus brief in Roberts v. Capital One Financial Corporation, in support of the plaintiff, Tawanna M. Roberts, against Capital One’s misleading overdraft fee practice. In the brief, submitted earlier this month, the group urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

CRL Condemns Wells Fargo’s Move to Avoid Accountability for Overdraft Abuse

New CFPB rule would restore Americans’ right to take banks to court WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in oral arguments before a federal appeals court, Wells Fargo will try to again stop consumers in 49 states from banding together in a lawsuit that challenges overdraft fee practices, which a California court concluded were “unfair and fraudulent.” Wells Fargo will try to use its forced arbitration clause, buried in the fine print of customer contracts, to prevent consumers from having their day in court. The case comes as a recent arbitration rule released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Fair and Equal Access to Credit Must Include Puerto Rico and All U.S. Territories

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A recent resolution reached between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and American Express will cure the harms previously caused to consumers residing in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories. Under the agreement, American Express agreed to compensate consumers who were harmed by unequal and inferior credit card terms that occurred in these U.S. territories, compared to credit they would have received in the continental United States. Higher interest rates, stricter credit cutoffs, and less debt forgiveness harmed more than 200,000

CRL Opposes Rollbacks of Protections That Help For-Profit College Borrowers

Gainful Employment Rule Should Focus on Students, Not Institutions WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would loosen regulatory standards affecting for-profit colleges and other career education programs. Failing institutions will now have until February 2018 to submit alternate earnings appeals and until October 2017 to submit an intent to appeal. Further, in submitting appeals, these institutions also will no longer be required to meet threshold response rates for graduate survey participants or ensure that any state data used is representative of the

CRL To Host Fintech Panel At Netroots Nation 2017

ATLANTA, GA. – Tomorrow, at this year’s Netroots Nation 2017 conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) will host a panel entitled, Fintech: How Can Innovation Advance Civil Rights?, to discuss ways the financial technology (fintech) sector can help build a fair and inclusive financial marketplace for consumers, especially low-wealth families and communities of color. The panel will include representatives from New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA), LendingClub, the California Reinvestment Coalition, and the Center for Global Policy Solutions. Netroots Nation is the

Study Exposes Big Banks’ Loan Sharking Working Families

Civil rights groups call for reform after CFPB data show financially vulnerable consumers still hammered by checking account overdraft fees WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a study exposing the extent to which large banks' abusive overdraft fees drain working families' checking accounts of needed funds. The study finds that nearly 80% of bank overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees are borne by a small portion of accounts that tend to carry low balances and have relatively low monthly deposits. For one group of hard hit consumers, the

Education Department Finally Heeds Pleas of Legislators and Advocates on Student Loan Servicing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently announced a decision to drop a plan that would have created a single student loan servicer for the nation. The reversal followed a related call by a group of bipartisan Senators to keep the Department’s current use of multiple loan servicers. Whitney Barkley-Denney, a senior policy counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending released the following statement: Secretary DeVos' decision to drop an ill-advised plan for a single loan servicer for the entire nation is a late recognition that acknowledges the problems

House Vote to Strip Consumers' Legal Rights is Unpopular

New Poll Shows that Congress Going Against Wishes of Constituents in Voting to Repeal a CFPB Rule that would Restore the Right of Americans to Take Financial Firms to Court WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on H.J. Res. 111, a bill that would rescind a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that curtails forced arbitration clauses. A new poll from the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform shows strong support, across the political spectrum and across the country, for the CFPB arbitration rule. Likely voters were

Congress Set to Crush Consumers' Legal Rights with Bill Moving Quickly to a Vote

Senators and Representatives Announce Legislation to Repeal Consumer Bureau Rule that Restores Americans' Ability to Challenge Illegal Lending Actions in Court WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) announced legislation that would rescind a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule, which restores the ability of consumers to band together in a class action lawsuit to challenge the illegal behavior of banks, payday lenders, and other financial companies. The legislation