Research

15 Fast Facts The magnitude of foreclosures and associated costs are daunting; the numbers tell the story. 1. Number of foreclosures initiated since 2007 6.6 million 2. Projected foreclosures during next 5 years Up to 12 million 3. Portion of all homeowners seriously delinquent on their mortgage 1 in 9 4. Portion of homes where owners owe more than property...

The latest mortgage data through second quarter 2010 show that while mortgage companies have stepped up their efforts outside the HAMP program, loan repairs are still dwarfed by the foreclosure epidemic. The chart below vividly illustrates that Federal efforts to stop foreclosures through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) simply aren't keeping pace with the foreclosure epidemic. Notes on chart...

Definitions and Notes Video of Sonia Press Release In a hearing on " Current Trends in Foreclosure and What More Can Be Done to Prevent Them," CRL urged Congress to take several actions to address the flood of foreclosures and fix the broken mortgage market: Create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency; pass or encourage sensible lending rules in the future...

A proposal for improving our financial system An essential component of the Obama Administration's proposal for improving oversight of our financial system would correct the current lack of adequate consumer protection standards that has plagued our financial system, and imperiled our economy. A new Consumer Financial Products Agency ("CFPA") would implement sensible protections and make sure that companies follow them...

Read a condensed version of this report (PDF) Introduction For too long the responsibility for protecting consumers has been fragmented among various federal regulators whose primary focus was the safety and soundness of the banking system. Consumer protection often went neglected, if anything, an afterthought or a box to check. Federal regulators' failure to restrain abuses that led to today's...

The following are some of the highlights of the report conducted by the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions on the $73 million title lending industry in Tennessee: High Interest Rates Remain. Annual rates for car title loans are still 264%. Still a Lemon for Borrowers. According to the report, half of the new loans made in 2006 were for $500...

Download the executive summary A full three quarters of loan volume of the payday lending industry is generated by borrowers who, after meeting the short-term due date of the loan, must re-borrow before their next pay period Repeat borrowing of what is marketed as a short-term loan of a few hundred dollars has long been documented, but this report verifies...

Payday industry tries to discredit CRL research... again Industry dollars funded supposed academic research A front group for the payday lending industry paid a college professor, Thomas Lehman, to write a pro-payday research report last year. The front group is Consumer Credit Research Foundation (CCRF), whose public relations director told BusinessWeek that CCRF is funded by the payday lending industry...

Industry arguments in support of payday lending hinge on one highly-flawed paper. Not only are there significant questions about the accuracy of that research, but it runs counter to the findings of many other studies. Paige Marta Skiba (Vanderbilt) and Jeremy Tobacman (U. of Pennsylvania), Do Payday Loans Cause Bankruptcy? http://tinyurl.com/skiba-tobacman-BK Using a database of 145,000 payday loan applicants from...

Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) In recent years, federal bank regulators looked the other way as tricky financial products with hidden costs and fees crowded out responsible loans. Dangerous products have stifled true innovation, depriving consumers of meaningful choices and leading the nation into today's financial crisis. We don't always need more regulation, but rather more effective regulation that is...