CRL in the News

However, the bill faces political headwinds, including opposition from consumer groups that worry the plan does not go as far as the current system to support affordable housing. "The bill is kind of a nonstarter for us at this point,” said Scott Astrada, director of federal advocacy at the Center for Responsible Lending.

To consumer advocates, the defanging of the consumer bureau is the epitome of pay-to-play. “They aggressively lobby against anything that goes against the debt trap nature of their business model,” said Diane Standaert, the director of state policy at the Center for Responsible Lending. “It’s been fierce.”

“Opening up the floodgates on lending discrimination will damage the ability for people of color to build wealth,” said Debbie Goldstein, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending.

The staffers who will now enforce fair-lending laws will be generalists who have their hands full with numerous other consumer issues, said Deborah Goldstein, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit focused on fighting predatory lending. “Fair lending will not have an advocate in that division,” she said.

The case could have broader implications over arguments of agencies and individuals that Congress grants a degree of independence from the executive branch as well. “The important thing to keep in mind here is it’s about preserving the institution, the long-term independence of the bureau,” said Melissa Stegman, senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending, during a press...

Melissa Stegman, senior policy counsel on the federal policy team of Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., said she thinks legislative action to get rid of the CFPB is “extremely unlikely. My impression is that there isn’t even much of an appetite to do that legislatively, because Mulvaney is already doing it through the...

Earlier this week, Bank of America (BoA) announced that it is discontinuing its free checking product for customers with low balances and switching them to BoA Core Checking accounts that charge an upfront $12 monthly fee. The fee can be waived if the customer maintains a daily minimum balance of $1,500 or has a monthly direct deposit of $250. Further...

“This report is disheartening but not surprising. Years of data show that unfair, racially discriminatory treatment of consumers is a growing problem in the auto lending industry. This is especially true for low-income families of color, where a car is often one of the biggest purchases made by a household,” said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending.

The “checks cashed” storefronts that line the main drags of poor communities across the country are largely linked to large banking monopolies, sucking assets from poor communities to pad multinational capital flows. According to the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), average interest rates for payday loans are nearly 400 percent APR. The CFPB’s rule was long overdue, after five years...

Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending, is among consumer watchdogs who are upset that Trump recently chose Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman and current White House budget director, to run the consumer bureau.