CRL in the News

People at their most desperate are at their most vulnerable. In an economy that’s booming, the wealth gap should be shrinking, not widening. Climbing the economic ladder for the working poor, especially for blacks and Latinos, is being threatened by payday loan lenders eager to exploit the situation with the help of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Earlier this...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Katko has joined with some ideological foes – Elizabeth Warren and Jerrold Nadler – to help some of the 44 million Americans trying to repay $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. The Democrats and Katko, R-Camillus, introduced a bill Thursday that would give borrowers who declare bankruptcy the option of having their student loan debt...

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will reportedly introduce new legislation today capping credit card and consumer loan interest rates at 15 percent and also set penalties for companies that violate the law “including a forfeiture of all interest on the illegal loans,” according to the Intercept. The proposed cap would be six percent lower than the current median interest rate...

On Thursday, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced her first official bill in the United State Congress: the Loan Shark Prevention Act, which would limit the interest rate on all consumer loans to 15 percent. (Over in the Senate, Vermont senator and Democratic 2020 hopeful Bernie Sanders unveiled an identical proposal.) Enacting the measure into law would have two primary...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is making plans to enter the technology age with its proposal to change the rules for debt collectors. While it’s great that they’re getting more specific about what is and isn’t allowed, you’re almost certainly not going to love all the changes.

Normally, Amazon opening up yet another store wouldn't necessarily make headlines. The company has 12 Amazon Go stores, three Amazon 4-Star stores, five Amazon Pop Ups, 19 Amazon Books stores, and four malls "presented" by Amazon. But Tuesday's unveil of its latest "lineless" store in the heart of New York City's financial district is notable because it's the e-commerce giant's...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday rolled out a highly anticipated package of proposed debt collection regulations, saying it aims to clarify and modernize consumer communication and disclosure standards

Over the past several years, debate has raged among policymakers at the federal level about the best way to ensure for-profit colleges provide students with a decent college education, and don’t burden their students with high levels of debt they can’t repay. Toward the end of their tenure, Obama administration officials implemented two rules aimed at cracking down on for-profit...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a highly anticipated proposal on Tuesday to update the rules governing debt collectors, establishing new guidelines on disclosure and the number of times a collector can contact a consumer. The proposed rule, which has been in the works since 2013, drew tepid praise from the industry and condemnation from some consumer advocates. Debt collection...

WASHINGTON – The federal government promised college students in 2007 that if they took their degrees and went into a public service profession, they could apply to have whatever student loan debts they still had after 10 years forgiven. So far, the reality has been somewhat different. When the first 29,000 applications were filed with the Department of Education last...