CRL in the News

In 2024, nearly a quarter of buy now, pay later customers made a late payment, according to the Federal Reserve, a notable jump from 18% the prior year. Late payments can carry fees disproportionate to original sales prices, says Nadine Chabrier, senior policy counsel at the Durham-based Center for Responsible Lending, part of Self-Help Credit Union. “I don’t consider (it)...

“BNPL lenders are not currently required to […] determine whether consumers can afford their BNPL loans,” said Nadine Chabrier, senior policy and litigation counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. “There are currently no checks and balances on borrowers taking out multiple BNPL loans at the same time, which may lead to overextension.”

An act of Congress would not be needed to amend the 30-year amortization limits for qualifying mortgages (QMs) that adhere to the underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, says Mike Calhoun, president of mortgage lending at the Center for Responsible Lending, the policy arm of Self-Help Credit Union. “The statute gives all the relevant agencies the right to...

Andrew Kushner, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, which applauded the decision by judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, said: "I think you will see other states take an interest in this and go down the same path that Colorado has.

“Debt settlement is specifically aimed at encouraging people to not pay their debts in hope that the company can reduce the debt load,” said Ellen Harnick with the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending. “The problem is that hope is very often not realized and certainly not realized for all of the debts the person has now just defaulted on.”...

Earned-wage access companies are confronting suits in federal courts in Maryland, California, and Georgia, and state court in Illinois, according to a Bloomberg Law review. The litigation is a natural byproduct of the products’ growth, said Monica Burks, policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. “The aggregate effects of this predatory product are starting to show themselves,” she said.

Nonetheless, consumer advocates are alarmed by the burgeoning industry’s practices, and the lack of government oversight. Organizations such as the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending consider EWA providers to be a new form of payday lending that charges excessive fees and traps low-income workers in a cycle of debt.

“The consumer that we serve has not changed in a profound way. They’re not in their personal recession, they’re not struggling to make their bills on time. They’re not telling us, ‘I need help’. It just has not changed,” said Levchin. He also specifically expressed support for a national 36 per cent annual percentage rate cap on BNPL and credit...

Today, Connecticut's law continues to be a focal point for both industry groups and consumer advocacy groups. Industry groups want to make regulation more inclusive so that more consumers can use EWA and intend on reengaging with the legislature during the next session, while some consumer advocacy groups have hailed the requirements. "Connecticut is what we would have called the...

In 2023, Nevada had the fifth-highest average annual interest rate for payday loans at 548 percent, according to a report from the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit that opposes the practice. From February 2022 to January 2023, around 150,000 payday loans were made in the state, about 15 percent of which were paid after the due date, according to...