Press Releases

Widespread alarm at high-cost non-bank lenders funneling loans through banks to charge interest rates higher than state laws allow for non-bank lenders Concern over this deceptive practice was high across the political spectrum with concern expressed by 71% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans, and 63% of independents. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Voters across the country and political spectrum are concerned that...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Director of Federal Campaigns Graciela Aponte-Diaz testified before the full House Financial Services Committee for a hearing entitled: Rent-A-Bank Schemes and New Debt Traps: Assessing Efforts to Evade State Consumer Protections and Interest Rate Caps. CRL and other consumer and civil rights organizations have underscored their concerns about rent-a-bank schemes...

National Consumer Law Center and Center for Responsible Lending Experts to Testify in Rent-a-Bank Hearing before U.S. House Today at 10am ET Washington, D.C. – Eleven national consumer and civil-rights groups submitted a comment letter late yesterday to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) strongly opposing the federal banking regulator’s proposal, which risks green lighting triple-digit rent-a-bank schemes. -High-cost lenders...

Poll released as House Committee Chairwoman Waters backs bipartisan legislation to establish a national 36% interest rate cap WASHINGTON, D.C. – Voters across the country and across the political spectrum strongly support a 36% annual interest rate cap for both payday and consumer installment loans, according to a new poll commissioned by the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, February 5, at approximately 10 a.m. ET, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Director of Federal Campaigns, Graciela Aponte-Diaz, and National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) Associate Director Lauren Saunders, will testify before the full House Financial Services Committee for a hearing entitled: Rent-A-Bank Schemes and New Debt Traps: Assessing Efforts to Evade State Consumer Protections...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eric Stein, Senior Vice President at Self-Help, a community development lender and parent of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), released the following statement after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced, in a letter to Members of Congress, that its forthcoming proposal will not rely solely on a loan’s debt-to-income ratio (DTI) in determining whether it...

Groups Strongly Oppose OCC Proposal that Would Bypass State Rate Caps to Allow High-Cost Predatory Loans Washington, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending, National Consumer Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG, sent a strong message...

The CFPB’s structure is constitutional and critical to ensuring that it can carry out its consumer protection mission free from undue political and industry influence. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC (Cohen Milstein) submitted an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Seila Law...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives passed, H.J.Res. 76, a resolution disapproving the Department of Education’s current Borrower Defense to Repayment rule under the Congressional Review Act. Once in effect, the 2019 regulation will severely weaken accountability for predatory for-profit colleges, prevent defrauded students from accessing relief, and fuel the growing $1.5 trillion student debt crisis that disproportionately...

DURHAM, N.C. – Today the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released a report analyzing the impact of a 36% interest rate cap on South Dakota following its 2016 passage by ballot measure. The Sky Doesn’t Fall: Life After Payday Lending in South Dakota finds that some South Dakotans are still suffering the harmful consequences of predatory payday lending from before...