Press Releases

The Financial Crisis Inquiry report rejects the notion that the financial crisis was inevitable. Instead, based on extensive evidence and 19 days of public hearings, the report points squarely at preventable actions and inactions by the "captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system." Aided by oversight that was weak and permissive, the reckless practices of Wall...

Washington, D.C.--- Proposed changes to home lending rules from the Federal Reserve Board not only exceed its authority, but could actually encourage predatory lending targeted at the elderly. In response to the flawed proposals, the Center for Responsible Lending, the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the California Reinvestment Coalition...

The Department of Justice $2 million settlement with PrimeLending spotlights serious problems on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The case found inconsistent and abusive pricing on loans to African-American borrowers, revealing that it's far too easy for lenders making government-backed loans to overcharge home buyers. (For the DOJ announcement, go to http://bit.ly/gINlMk.) The FHA insures mortgages that...

Statement by CRL President Mike Calhoun: "Today the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. set a standard other regulators should follow when it issued guidelines advising banks to stop reordering transactions to maximize overdraft fees, particularly on debit cards. Unfair transaction posting—especially the practice of reordering checks and debit card transactions to deduct the largest checks and charges first—significantly increases the number...

Montana yesterday became the third state in two years to reject payday loans carrying triple-digit interest rates. Citizens in the state overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to limit annual interest rates on small consumer loans to 36 percent. With nearly all precincts counted, 72 percent of voters backed the measure, thus rejecting industry arguments intended to conceal that payday lenders'...

Credit card offers have grown increasingly complicated since 2000, when Congress required issuers to start disclosing pricing information on credit card offers. But instead of providing clarity to consumers about the true cost of their credit cards, issuers responded to this mandate by adding a confusing array of numbers to their offers, new CRL research finds. To see the full...

The American Bankers Association and industry consultants claim surveys show customers have "opted in" to high-fee debit card overdraft coverage because they want this service. But these surveys likely only show the success of aggressive, deceptive marketing campaigns to steer customers into bad products, not true customer preference. Industry-sponsored survey results would be more credible if banks and credit unions...

The Honorable John Walsh Acting Comptroller Office of the Comptroller of the Currency 250 E Street, SW Washington, DC 20219-001 Dear Acting Comptroller Walsh: As banks continue their campaigns to persuade consumers to agree to pay steep fees for debit card overdrafts, we urge the Office of Comptroller of the Currency to adopt stricter guidance that effectively requires banks to...

USA Today Op-Ed By Julia Gordon, CRL Senior Policy Counsel julia.gordon@responsiblelending.org 202-349-1878 For years, mortgage loan servicing companies have engaged in shoddy business practices, ranging from misapplied payments to evicting homeowners who have never missed a payment. Now employees of these companies have admitted to falsifying thousands upon thousands of affidavits used to toss families out of their homes. The...

National civil rights groups, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Fair Housing Alliance, National Council of La Raza, the NAACP, and the Center for Responsible Lending are renewing their April 2007 call to institute an immediate national moratorium on foreclosures. Until lenders demonstrate that they are adhering to all existing laws, regulations, and contractual guidelines...