Ellen Harnick ‌ ‌

Ellen Harnick

Executive Vice President & Director of State Policy

Consumer Finance

Ellen Harnick is an executive vice president and director of state policy at the Center for Responsible Lending. Based in Oakland, California, Ellen leads CRL’s state-level policy work across the United States. She works with diverse stake-holders, state legislators, and Attorneys General from both parties to curtail lending abuses and advance reasonable consumer protections. At the federal level, Ellen has testified on mortgage and consumer protection matters at congressional hearings on interventions needed to mitigate the impacts of the foreclosure crisis, and maintaining access to responsible credit for low-income families.

Before joining CRL, Ellen was a partner in the New York law firm of Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, where she represented corporate clients. During 2001-2002, she served in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, focused on developing market economic laws and the transition to democracy. Ellen graduated from Brandeis University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Research & Policy

Upsold and Weighed Down: An Analysis of a Subset of Supervised Installment Lending in Colorado

Previous research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) has revealed the harms associated with high-cost installment loans, which are often marketed to subprime borrowers and have annual percentage rates of interest (APRs) in excess of 36%. This paper explores a different segment of the installment loan market: loans made by consumer finance companies with rates at or below 36% APR that have larger, longer terms and are often packed with fees for low-value, high-cost add-on products. The costs of these products are not included in the loans’ APRs. Using a sample of 67 collections cases...
Research
Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

Testimony in Support of SB19-002: Protecting Coloradans from Abusive Practices by Student Education Loan Servicers

This written testimony focuses on three key areas of concern: 1) abuses by student loan servicers prolong and deepen the problem of student loan debt; 2) For-profit schools disproportionately drive student loan debt nationally and in Colorado; and 3) the federal rollback of existing protections bolsters the need for state action. Download the full testimony. (PDF)
Testimony
Student Loans

Sinking Feeling: Colorado Borrowers Describe their Experiences with Payday Loans

Lump sum single balloon payment payday loans with a two-week term have historically dominated the payday loan market. A shift in recent years, due to regulatory or industry changes, has been for payday lenders to make payday loans with longer terms due in multiple installment payments, each due on or around the borrower’s payday. Payday lenders often market these products as a better, more affordable option, even though longer-term payday loans carry triple-digit interest rates, require access to a borrower's bank account to extract payments, and are made with little to no assessment of the...
Research
Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

Payday Lenders Continue to Put Coloradoans Into High-Cost Debt

Almost eight years after Colorado enacted a payday law reform bill in 2010, payday lenders in Colorado continue to ensnare customers in a cycle of high-cost debt. Customers are drawn in by promises of easy cash. But as the high costs mount, the struggle to cover monthly expenses is compounded by the struggle to cover the cost of the payday loan. The resulting cycle of debt is often difficult to escape. This report analyzes data published by the Colorado Attorney General’s Consumer Credit Unit (2016 Deferred Deposit/Payday Lenders Annual Report) , and the Attorney General’s Demographic and...
Research
Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

Debt Buyers Hound Coloradans in Court for Debts They May Not Owe

Six years after the Great Recession, American households continue to struggle with consumer debt. According to data reported by the Urban Institute, approximately 77 million Americans – 35 percent of adults with credit files – have debt in collections reported on their credit files. These Americans carry about $1,349 in debt. About 31 percent of Colorado residents have debt in collections. Debt buyers purchase bad debts that were written off by the original creditor. They pay pennies on the dollar and try to collect the full amount. But they have so little information about the underlying...
Research
Debt Collection & Settlement

The State of Lending in America and Its Impact on U.S. Households

State of Lending provides an across-the-board survey of financial products that Americans use to handle everyday transactions, buy homes and automobiles, and build savings and wealth. The report outlines predatory lending practices in various fields of consumer lending, and explains why protecting fair, affordable access to credit is vital for both consumers and the U.S. economy. The report also describes the regulatory and legislative actions needed to halt the predatory lending practices that exist today and prevent the rise of new abuses. It is intended to inform the critical debate on how...
Research
Consumer Finance

The State of Lending: Debt Settlement

Debt settlement companies offer the promise of settling a consumer's debt for a fraction of what they owe. The idea is simple: debt settlement companies offer to negotiate down the outstanding debt (usually from credit cards) owed to a more manageable amount so that a consumer can become debt free. Unfortunately debt settlement carries significant risks that may result in consumers becoming even worse off. Debt settlement is inherently a risky venture: in order to enroll into debt settlement programs, consumers are required to default on their debt which often results in fees, increased...
Research
Debt Collection & Settlement

Testimony on Regulatory Reforms to the Community Reinvestment Act

CRL Senior Policy Counsel Ellen Harnick testifies in a joint public hearing held in Atlanta, GA regarding regulatory reforms to the Community Reinvestment Act, and urges the following improvements to CRA: 1. Broaden CRA assessment areas to reflect the actual scope of bank activity. 2. Require that the activities of bank affiliates count toward the CRA rating of their parent institution. 3. Encourage fair and affordable savings and transactions services specifically targeted to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income individuals, including the unbanked and under-banked. 4. Strengthen...
Testimony
Mortgage Lending