Press Releases

Civil rights groups call for reform after CFPB data show financially vulnerable consumers still hammered by checking account overdraft fees WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a study exposing the extent to which large banks' abusive overdraft fees drain working families' checking accounts of needed funds. The study finds that nearly 80% of bank overdraft...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently announced a decision to drop a plan that would have created a single student loan servicer for the nation. The reversal followed a related call by a group of bipartisan Senators to keep the Department’s current use of multiple loan servicers. Whitney Barkley-Denney, a senior policy counsel with the...

New Poll Shows that Congress Going Against Wishes of Constituents in Voting to Repeal a CFPB Rule that would Restore the Right of Americans to Take Financial Firms to Court WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on H.J. Res. 111, a bill that would rescind a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that curtails...

Senators and Representatives Announce Legislation to Repeal Consumer Bureau Rule that Restores Americans' Ability to Challenge Illegal Lending Actions in Court WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) announced legislation that would rescind a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule, which restores the ability of consumers...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Voters overwhelmingly favor regulation of Wall Street and strongly support the work of the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to a poll released today by Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). The poll, conducted by the bipartisan partners Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting last month...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tuesday, July 18, at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) hosted a press teleconference on a national poll highlighting the country’s view of Wall Street and current financial regulation issues such as arbitration and payday lending six months into the Trump Administration. (Cong. Maxine Waters was...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) policy analysis, " Been There; Done That," warns that banks are seeking the repeal of consumer protections established in 2013 that ensured that banks could no longer keep borrowers trapped in unaffordable payday loans. Six banks—Wells Fargo, US Bank, Regions Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Bank of Oklahoma and GuarantyBank—were making...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its final rule aimed to restrict forced arbitration and improve access to our judicial system for all consumers. Across the country, fine print agreements--from financial to employment contracts--too often include arbitration clauses to strip individuals from receiving their fair day in court. These agreements often ban class action lawsuits...

OAKLAND, CA – The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) recently released its 2016 report on the state’s payday lending industry. The study showed the number of seniors caught in the debt trap, age 62 and older, nearly tripled since 2015. The study also showed that annual percentage rate (APR) for these payday loans rose to 372 percent, up from...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Attorneys General from 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit against Secretary Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education over the department’s decision to halt the Borrower Defense to Repayment rule, which is meant to protect federal student loan borrowers from abusive for-profit colleges and provide relief for students defrauded by them...