Letters to Congress

This sign-on letter of national civil rights, faith, and consumer groups, argues that bank payday loans are high-cost debt traps, just like payday loans from non-banks. It urges the prevention of high-cost, usurious loans by banks and credit unions—whether short-term, balloon-payment payday loans (which banks sometimes call “deposit advance” loans) or longer-term high-cost installment loans or lines of credit, and regardless of whether the loans are made by banks directly or through partnerships with non-bank lenders. “Deposit advance” loans are payday loans, pure and simple, and data clearly...

The letter begins... We, the undersigned civil rights and consumer advocacy organizations, ask you to oppose S.J. Res. 57, the Congressional Review Act (CRA), introduced by Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), intended to undo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Consumer Bureau) Indirect Auto Lending Guidance, published over five years ago. This resolution is the latest in a series of attempts to chill federal efforts to end widespread unlawful discrimination. Discrimination in the auto lending market is well-documented and results in people of color paying more for years to finance a...

The full letter begins: We, the undersigned civil rights and consumer advocacy organizations, ask you to oppose S.J. Res. 57, the Congressional Review Act (CRA), introduced by Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), intended to undo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Consumer Bureau) Indirect Auto Lending Guidance, published over five years ago. This resolution is the latest in a series of attempts to chill federal efforts to end widespread unlawful discrimination. Discrimination in the auto lending market is well-documented and results in people of color paying more for years to finance...

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 Act (RESPA) for small mortgage servicers from those servicing 5,000 loans held in portfolio or in that of the affiliate to those servicing 20,000 loans...

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 affordability provisions, especially the Affordable Housing Goals. They are also concerned that the nation’s homeownership rate is still declining and rental housing rates...

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 affordability and access to quality educational programs for all, especially low-income students and students of color. Unfortunately, the PROSPER Act does nothing to make this goal more attainable...

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.

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 consumers by curbing abuses in the high-cost small dollar loan market, while permitting responsible lending on reasonable terms to continue. A strong rate cap also has strong public support, with a large...

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 bank arrangements to ignore state interest rate caps and make high-rate loans. The potential costs and damage to consumers are significant, the groups warn. S. 1642 and H.R. 3299 could potentially expand short-term...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) sent a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) rebutting the committee’s majority staff report criticizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) role in investigating Wells Fargo’s fraudulent account scheme.