Press Releases

Congress holds hearings Tuesday, May 24th on two predatory mortgage-lending bills, one backed by industry that would gut strong state laws and weaken federal law, the other supported by consumer and civil rights groups and that would protect more people from losing their homes. Martin Eakes, an expert on predatory lending as CEO of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending and the Self-Help Credit Union in Durham, N.C, will testify before the House Subcommittees on Housing and Community Opportunity and Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Tuesday, May 24th at 10 am. Each

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Reps. Brad Miller, Melvin L. Watt and Barney Frank will hold a press conference Tuesday on their anti-predatory mortgage-lending bill. The Prohibit Predatory Lending Act (HR 1182) strengthens protections against predatory lenders, who are booming as the market for sub-prime mortgages explodes. Predatory lenders cost American homeowners and homebuyers in the sub-prime market, where people with less-than-perfect credit records borrow, more than $9 billion a year. These borrowers who get cheated out of the hard-won equity in their homes are often minorities, rural borrowers and

Download the Report Car Title Lending: Driving Borrowers to Financial Ruin Washington -– Cash-strapped families risk losing their cars in the latest form of high-cost small lending spreading across America, according to a new report from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA). Borrowers who put their cars on the line to borrow a few hundred dollars for one month become trapped into a cycle of repeated loans with interest rates often around 300 percent. Borrowers often find themselves "rolling over" these loans repeatedly – paying huge amounts in

DURHAM, N.C. -- A lawyer at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) will testify tomorrow before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Small Business on how payday lenders prey on military personnel. The Subcommittee on Rural Enterprise, Agriculture and Technology meets in Kansas City, Missouri amid newspaper reports on service members victimized by payday lenders, who often get their customers trapped in loans running into more than 400 percent interest. Kathleen Keest, a lawyer for CRL, will tell the legislators that predatory payday lending costs Americans over

WASHINGTON, D.C., -- Civil rights groups joined consumer organizations in opposing a bill in Congress that would gut protections against predatory lenders. That bill, introduced by Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio and Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, would make it easier for unscrupulous lenders to rob the nation's most vulnerable families of their homes and savings. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond urged lawmakers to reject the bill and pass instead a bill by Reps. Brad Miller and Mel Watt of North Carolina and Barney Frank of Massachusetts that strengthens defenses against predators. "Representatives Ney and

Download the Report Race Matters: The Concentration of Payday Lenders in African-American Neighborhoods in North Carolina DURHAM, NC -- Payday lenders who trap people in triple digit-interest loans locate their stores in African-American neighborhoods in higher concentrations, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). African-American neighborhoods in North Carolina have three times as many payday lenders per capita as white neighborhoods, even after controlling for variables associated with the industry's purported customer base such as income and homeownership. "This

Download the Report Race Matters: The Concentration of Payday Lenders in African-American Neighborhoods in North Carolina DURHAM, NC -- Payday lenders who trap people in triple digit-interest loans locate their stores in African-American neighborhoods in higher concentrations, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). African-American neighborhoods in North Carolina have three times as many payday lenders per capita as white neighborhoods, even after controlling for variables associated with the industry's purported customer base such as income and homeownership. "This

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new bill in Congress would demolish many of the protections states and the federal government have carefully erected against predatory lenders and would expose millions of homebuyers to the loss of their savings and even their homes. The bill by Congressmen Robert Ney of Ohio and Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania would preempt state laws proven effective at curbing abusive lending and replace them with a weak federal standard. The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy and research group, urges Congress to reject this bill in its current form, which

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A bill by Rep. Brad Miller, Rep. Mel Watt and Rep. Barney Frank, the ranking Democrat on the House Finance Committee, would protect homeowners from predatory lenders far better than current federal law, says the Center for Responsible Lending. The bill is modeled on a North Carolina law that has reduced predatory loans and would eliminate current loopholes in federal law. The bill discourages lenders from charging exorbitant fees or prepayment penalties that keep borrowers from refinancing at a lower interest rate or strip wealth from savings; prohibits "flipping" –

View this document (PDF) Ernst & Young LLP recently released a report discussing the outcomes of binding mandatory arbitration ("BMA") in credit-related, consumer-initiated arbitration cases.1 As an increasingly standard contract provision, consumers often unknowingly or feel compelled to accept pre-dispute BMA clauses in their contracts. These clauses strip consumers of their right to dispute claims in a court with a jury of their peers and provides corporations with substantial advantages to defend against their misdeeds. The Center's evaluation of the Ernst & Young report questions the