Press Releases
March 23, 2009
Download Survey Findings
U.S consumers overwhelmingly want to be asked their preference before a bank or credit union enrolls them in a program to cover debit card purchases when they do not have the funds, a new Center for Responsible Lending survey finds.
Financial institutions typically enroll their customers in a system that covers debit card overdrafts and then assesses them an average $34 fee for each transaction, often on the purchase of an item that costs less than the fee itself. The new survey finds that most people would rather be asked if they want to be in such a program...
March 10, 2009
Statement of Mike Calhoun, President, Center for Responsible Lending
The Center for Responsible Lending commends Bank of America for its decision to stop charging overdraft fees on debit card purchases. With this change, Bank of America—which issues more debit cards than any other bank— joins another banking giant, Citibank, in practicing responsible debit card overdraft policies.
Most other large banks typically charge a $35 fee on an average debit card overdraft of only $17—an exorbitant cost for credit that the bank automatically repays itself only days later from...
March 5, 2009
Center for Responsible Lending's president, Michael Calhoun, on the House approval of H.R. 1106, which makes court relief on mortgages available for financially distressed homeowners:
"We applaud lawmakers in the House for passing legislation that is a crucial piece of the broader White House plan to stem foreclosures. With another family facing foreclosure every 13 seconds, the need to put the economy before politics couldn't be clearer. New numbers released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association underscore how quickly the housing situation continues to deteriorate: In 2008 more than...
February 27, 2009
Measure would end abusive 400% interest
Washington - A measure introduced in the U.S. Senate yesterday would speed economic recovery efforts by ending high-interest credit schemes that trap working families in a quagmire of debt.
The bill from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), majority whip of the Senate, would cap annual interest rates on consumer credit at 36 percent-a cap that Congress already applied in 2006 nationally to active members of the military. The cap would stop abuses by payday and car-title lenders at a time when keeping as much cash as possible in the hands of working...
February 18, 2009
More analysis of the Housing Plan >>
The housing plan announced today represents a huge step forward for the entire country, and includes responsible and effective actions to reduce the massive foreclosures that triggered today's economic crisis. It represents an essential and overdue investment in correcting the results of bad lending and poor risk management. And it will benefit households from across the economic spectrum, providing new hope for a future with stronger communities and a stronger economy.
Previous actions to bail out banks have been necessary to keep the economy...
February 10, 2009
No one likes overdraft fees: Who wants to pay $34 for a $5 hamburger? The public has until a March 30 deadline to tell banking regulators at the Federal Reserve Board whether a) banks should be required to let customers "opt in" to these high-cost lending programs or b) be allowed to continue automatically signing them up?
Only the first of the Federal Reserve's proposed rules—the opt-in option---would be a real step toward reforming overdraft practices. That's because it would require banks to get a customer's permission before enrolling him or her in a costly overdraft program for...
February 10, 2009
We will not effectively stabilize the nation's banks and financial system until we stop the wave of foreclosures that continues to drive down the economy and harm millions of families. At least 8 million families risk losing their homes to foreclosure in the next four years. These foreclosures drive down the value of all homes, and in turn prevent a recovery of the housing and financial markets. The financial crisis will not end unless these foreclosures are reduced.
This year alone there will be 2.4 million foreclosures. The 75 million families who happen to live near those properties...
February 5, 2009
The foreclosure epidemic that ignited today's economic crisis continues unabated, as illustrated by new up-to-the-second figures released by the Center for Responsible Lending. CRL's website, http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/tools-resources/national-foreclosure-ticker.html, now displays a constantly updated counter showing new foreclosure starts this year for the nation and also by state.
The counter is based on data collected by the Mortgage Bankers Association and adjusted to cover the entire market. It graphically depicts the magnitude of home losses as they mount...
January 21, 2009
The federal Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) has failed in its responsibility to oversee the nation's thrift institutions and protect the public from reckless lending practices, according to a new report released today by the Center for Responsible Lending.
Read The Second S&L Scandal: How OTS allowed reckless and unfair lending to fleece homeowners and cripple the nation's savings and loan industry, http://qa.crl.w.lmdagency.net/research-publication/second-s-l-scandal.
CRL recommends that OTS be eliminated as a government agency and that its functions be folded into other federal...
January 8, 2009
The subprime market for home loans has dried up for now, but the bad subprime loans made at the height of the mortgage bubble continue to damage neighborhoods and drown the economy in foreclosures. New information in a Center for Responsible Lending report provides a fresh, grim snapshot of the spreading negative effects of subprime mortgages that were aggressively marketed up until last year.
The report, "Continued Decay and Shaky Repairs: The State of Subprime Loans Today," includes these findings:
Over 1.5 million homes have been lost through subprime foreclosures.
Another 2...