Research & Policy

CRL Director of Federal Advocacy, Scott Astrada, appeared before the HFSC's Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee on January 9th, 2018 to deliver testimony for a hearing tittled "Legislative Proposals for a More Efficient Federal Financial Regulatory Regime: Part III." He spoke on the following bills: H.R. 2683, a bill to prevent veterans' credit scores from unfairly being hurt by...

The PROSPER Act is yet another boost for the private sector instead of consumers and taxpayers. At a time when college affordability is increasingly beyond the financial reach of most Americans, the future of higher education and student lending will affect both consumers and our nation’s ability to effectively compete in a global economy. With more than 44 million Americans...

Leading civil and human rights organizations and housing policy advocates are urging both the U.S. Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees to demand that stakeholders--now excluded from current Congressional discussion on reforming the nation’s housing finance system--be expanded to include all voices and perspectives. The top policy concern of the organizations is to preserve the current system’s access and...

This letter to Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, voices CRL's strong opposition to H.R. 4508, "Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act." Prosperity and economic security are laudable and elusive goals for many Americans, and we believe the Higher Education Act should play a key role in increasing...

The undersigned organizations oppose H.R. 3971, the so‐called “Community Institution Mortgage Relief Act of 2017.” This bill would create loopholes for abuse by rolling back essential consumer protections and inappropriately extending to larger institutions the carefully tailored exemptions that currently apply to community banks and other small institutions. The bill expands an existing exemption from the Real Estate Settlement Procedures...

This amicus brief, filed on behalf of ten consumer advocacy groups in support of English’s motion for a preliminary injunction, explains the importance of confirming English's position for the American consumer.

The Center for Responsible Lending, the Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the National Consumer Law Center released this analysis detailing their reasons for opposing S. 2155, a bill that rolls back or eliminates Dodd-Frank's protections for consumers and for economic stability.

One day after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rescinded its 2013 guidance to curb predatory bank payday loans, more than 230 ( updated) faith, consumer advocate, and civil rights organizations from across the country sent a letter to America's banks urging them to pledge that they will not begin making payday loans and to oppose the...

CRL executive vice president, Nikitra Bailey, appeared before the HFSC Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance on October 25, 2017 to deliver testimony on the “Sustainable Housing Finance: Private Sector Perspectives on Housing Finance Reform” focusing on: Homeownership is vital for American families Congress must address the housing finance system’s legacy of discrimination Future reforms must build on the strong reforms...

Download an overview of the main points in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) final payday loan rule.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued the first part of a final national rule that addresses payday and car title lending. For years, civil rights organizations, consumer advocates, faith groups, working families, and others across the country have pushed for a rule to protect their communities from the payday lending debt trap. This rule represents another step forward...

The Center for Responsible Lending and the undersigned consumer, civil rights, and community organizations would like to thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) proposed rule setting the 2018-2020 Affordable Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (“Enterprises”). We appreciate FHFA’s efforts to improve strategies to ensure those from lower wealth...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 5, 2017 North Carolina Consumer Protections Remain Crucial As CFPB Releases New Payday Lending Rule North Carolina Usury Cap Keeps Loan Sharks at Bay Durham, NC — While consumers in states that are burdened by predatory payday lending will benefit from a final rule issued today by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), North Carolina has...

Enfoque is a Spanish information service of CRL's Latino Affairs. All the content is in Spanish; the hyperlinks throughout the document land on the original sources on our website or mostly English pages. No 1 | Vol VIII | 2017 No 1 | Vol VII | 2016 No 1 | Vol VI | 2015 No 1 | Vol V |...

Enacted by Congress in 1975, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) requires an annual public accounting of the nation’s mortgage lending. Its data provides critical information for both the public and financial sectors by alerting the nation to trends on the groups of Americans that are actually receiving mortgage loans from financial institutions. For the third straight year, CRL’s HMDA...

This letter urges Congress to support the Senate and House companion bills, S. 1659/H.R. 3760, the “Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act,” sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin, Senator Jeff Merkley, Representative Matt Cartwright, and Representative Steve Cohen. The Senate and House bills would extend to all consumers a 36 percent usury APR cap. A fair rate cap will protect...

Payday lending is a high-cost loan product that is built on its ability to churn consumers through a cycle of debt, collecting fees for as long as possible. Fortunately, 15 states and the District of Columbia have made a definitive statement to prohibit high-cost payday loans by adopting interest rate caps of 36% or less. The experiences of consumers in...

This poll conducted by Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting shows overwhelming support among likely voters for policy proposals that assist those with education debt, with particularly high support for proposals that permit borrowers to refinance existing loans2 and to create flexible repayment options. 91 percent of voters favor permitting borrowers to refinance their existing student loans at a...

Our top priorities for the 2017 NC General Assembly session were to keep payday and car title lenders out of North Carolina, to defend our strong debt buyer and debt collection protections and our strong mortgage lending protections, and to look for opportunities to strengthen other lending protections while guarding against any proposals to weaken them. This 2017 session of...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and 150 national and state organizations urge Members of Congress to reject S. 1642 and H.R. 3299, legislation that pose serious risks of enabling a vast expansion of predatory lending across the country. Specifically, the legislation makes it easier for payday lenders and other nonbanks to use rent-a...

First, we note that the affordable housing goals are part of the FHFA’s clearly laid out mission to reach underserved communities and that increasing access to mortgage credit in these communities is essential to the housing recovery. Second, we recommend that the FHFA maintain the two-part test, and strongly urge that the FHFA set a higher benchmark standard and require...

Before the Joint Hearing of the California Assembly Select Committee on Youth and California’s Future and Assembly Banking and Finance Committee Graciela Aponte-Diaz presented the following information in her testimony: First, a snapshot of student loan borrowers, nationally and here in California; Second, highlight major issues with student loan servicing; and Finally, I’d like to provide some policy recommendations for...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and New Economy Project filed an amicus brief in Roberts v. Capital One Financial Corporation, in support of the plaintiff, Tawanna M. Roberts, against Capital One’s misleading overdraft fee practice. In the brief, submitted earlier this month, the group urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...

These comments respond to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed amendments to the qualified-mortgage (QM) rule as it relates to 1) the importance of the QM rule, 2) why the constrained lending environment is due to factors other than QM, and 3) why they should be addressed rather than weakening QM, 4) our analysis of CFPB’s proposed evaluation, and 5)...

Payday lending involves small‐dollar, high‐interest loans that trap consumers into a long‐term cycle of debt and fees. Payday lenders tout themselves as a needed service providing access to emergency credit. However, with weak underwriting and ability to repay standards, the payday loan model creates a debt trap that is easy to get into, but extremely difficult to escape. Each year...