Policy & Legislation

Many of the problems that led to the failure of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program are IDR problems in disguise—such as borrowers being steered into the wrong repayment plan and Family Federal Education Loan (FFEL) servicers failing to tell borrowers of consolidation options. These problems will not be corrected by a solution that only addresses the PSLF program.

As Adam Harris writes in his 2021 book, The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal—And How to Set Them Right: “America’s colleges and universities have a dirty open secret: they have never given Black people an equal chance to succeed.” Despite long-standing systemic challenges and the small average size of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), these institutions have an impact significantly greater than one would expect and perform a critical function for Black students. Nationally, HBCUs annually generate more than 130,000 jobs and almost $15...

The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis impacts over 44 million families nationwide, and the burden of student loans falls particularly heavily on Black students because of historical and ongoing systemic racism. While Black families themselves typically have less wealth to draw upon to pay for college due to the racial wealth gap, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have also been underfunded throughout their histories, compounding the challenges for HBCU students who face financial challenges at both the familial and institutional levels. These challenges often result in...

The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis impacts over 44 million families nationwide, and the burden of student loans falls particularly heavily on Black students because of historical and ongoing systemic racism. While Black families themselves typically have less wealth to draw upon to pay for college due to the racial wealth gap, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have also been underfunded throughout their histories, compounding the challenges for HBCU students who face financial challenges at both the familial and institutional levels. These challenges often result in...

The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis impacts over 44 million families nationwide, and the burden of student loans falls particularly heavily on Black students because of historical and ongoing systemic racism. While Black families themselves typically have less wealth to draw upon to pay for college due to the racial wealth gap, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have also been underfunded throughout their histories, compounding the challenges for HBCU students who face financial challenges at both the familial and institutional levels. These challenges often result in...

Even before COVID-19, student loan borrowers struggled under the weight of more than $1.6 trillion in debt. One in four borrowers was in default or serious delinquency, and many worried about their ability to make student loan payments while covering other basic needs. Because of decades of structural inequities and discrimination, student loans have burdened Black and Latino borrowers more than other groups, and now these borrowers of color are also among those disproportionately harmed by COVID-19. Recognizing that the crisis impacted many borrowers’ abilities to repay their debts, the...

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) “fake lender” rule is an existential threat to state interest rate limits that protect consumers from predatory lending. Since the American Revolution, states have limited interest rates to stop predatory lending. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia (DC) have interest rate caps on at least some installment loans, depending on the size. These laws are extremely popular. In recent years, Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, and Nebraska have passed ballot initiatives, with overwhelming support, establishing or reaffirming rate...

Debt collectors, including debt buyers, have weaponized the courts and frequently sue the wrong consumer for the wrong amount. Armed with a judgment, they use wage garnishment orders and bank account levies to seize money from families who are the least able to afford it. Research shows that nearly half of all Americans do not have enough savings to cover three to six months’ worth of living expenses, yet that is what people need to ensure that they can provide for their families. CRL is calling on the federal government to protect $12,000 in people’s bank accounts from being levied, per adult...

The COVID-19 crisis has profound financial impacts on families across the country and on the economy overall. With businesses shuttered (including 40% of Black businesses) and record-breaking unemployment claims filed since March 2020, it is hard to overstate the financial instability and hardship this global pandemic has produced. And it will only get worse. The federal government’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic has failed to meet the needs of Americans who are forced to choose between staying healthy and working in essential, often low-paying, jobs. Even as the recovery lags, the...

A legacy of racial discrimination in housing, lending, banking, policing, employment, and otherwise, has produced dramatically inequitable outcomes that persist today. Communities of color, often largely segregated due to the history of redlining and other racially exclusionary housing policy, experience higher rates of poverty, lower wages, and higher cost burdens to pay for basic living expenses. Payday loans cause particular harm to these communities. Payday lenders target borrowers of color, in part by concentrating their locations in communities of color. Indeed, the communities most...