CRL in the News

An expert panel assembled by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) for its Issues Forum held during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) 46th Annual Legislative Conference cautioned that mortgage lending disparities coupled with public policies and inactions by governmental institutions conspire to impede the growth of Black homeownership. As indicated in NAREB's 2016 report the State of...

A coalition of public-interest groups is urging the U.S. Department of Education to begin monitoring stark racial disparities when it comes to student lending. In a letter written to Education Secretary John B. King Jr., the National Consumer Law Center, along with 40 other civil rights, legal-aid and public-interest groups, requested that the government begin collecting data “to ensure that...

While the closing of I-T-T Technical Institute campuses in Lexington and Louisville has left students in the lurch, a consumer advocate says the closures are ultimately a good thing. The for-profit technical institute closed all 130 of its for-profit schools last week, leaving 35-thousand students in limbo. The move came after the U-S Department of Education banned I-T-T from accepting...

Mike Calhoun is a lawyer and president of the non-profit Center for Responsible Lending. He believes most lawyers wouldn't understand some of the more complex credit card agreements. "You shouldn't have to be a consumer law expert to engage in an ordinary consumer transaction like this," he said.

Although ITT Tech blamed its closures on August 25 Department of Education supervisory actions, the institution was facing multiple state investigations as well as other serious signs of approaching failure.

“These bills were popping up all over the place,” said Diane Standaert, director of state policy at the Center for Responsible Lending, adding that they were “aimed at loosening state laws that protect people from high-cost lending.”

Many Floridians who struggle to pay their bills resort to payday loans: small-dollar, high-cost cash advances that borrowers promise to repay out of their next pay check. Lower-income borrowers often wind up trapped in a cycle of debt, taking out a string of payday loans, paying high fees with each one and falling further behind financially. Payday lenders have collected...

Chris Kukla of the Center for Responsible Lending says Cooper’s office has been a model for other states’ financial regulation. "Over last 10 years, I can’t think of a significant consumer protection area in financial services his office hasn’t been involved in,” Kukla said.

Students who receive the Federal Stafford Loan can borrow up to $5,500 annually from the U.S. Department of Education for tuition, books and other related expenses. The loan can be repaid during the time a student is enrolled or it can be deferred, depending on several factors. The loan could even be forgiven if the student enters certain professions, dies...

Payday loans are a bad idea. They should be considered "predatory loans" because too often they lead to a form of servitude for people who get trapped in excessive debt nearly impossible to repay.