CRL in the News

Consumer advocates say that a pro-consumer ruling in the suit could make it difficult for debt buyers operating in North Carolina to churn out a high volume of lawsuits, which frequently lead to default judgments against borrowers. "This has the potential for disrupting the assembly line, because the debt buyer is held to a higher standard," Nadine Chabrier, senior policy and litigation counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, said in an interview Wednesday.

Now that the Biden administration has wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars in education debt and proposed a new income-driven repayment plan that could cut monthly payments in half for undergraduate loans, many borrowers will have lower monthly payments, or none at all. This “gives borrowers a chance to achieve their goals,” said Jaylon Herbin, a policy and outreach manager at the Center for Responsible Lending. That’s particularly true for women and Black borrowers, who carry higher balances after graduating, he said.

"For folks who have higher debt loads, they're actually getting their wages garnished or seized at really high rates," according to Lucia Mattox, senior policy manager at the Center for Responsible Lending. "Currently at the federal level, only $217.50 is protected in someone's weekly paycheck and that bill hasn't been updated since the late '60s."

“This is the first step in overhauling our federal student aid system and understanding that the student debt crisis has been a drastic burden from many people, especially people of color,” said Jaylon Herbin, outreach associate and policy manager for the Center for Responsible Lending.

“These changes make things more affordable for borrowers and allow borrowers to avoid default,” according to Whitney Barkley-Denney, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending.

Center for Responsible Lending Policy and Outreach Manager Jaylon Herbin had 60,000 dollars in loans. “Yesterday’s announcement alleviated about 10,000 dollars worth but there’s still a lot that I still have to pay off,” Herbin said. Herbin supports more loan forgiveness and he’s not alone. A recent NewsNation poll found 64 percent of Americans are at least somewhat supportive of forgiving up to 100 thousand dollars of student debt. “50,000 dollars would’ve eliminated about 76% of the borrowers student debt,” Herbin said.

The Center for Responsible Lending says that there are 1.3 million borrowers in North Carolina who owe a collective amount of $48 billion, the Observer reported. Biden’s plan will alleviate a large portion of debt for a significant amount of Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents, according to most recent U.S. Census Bureau data and criteria outlined by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Center for Responsible Lending and 11 other progressive groups urged U.S. regulators to reject Toronto-Dominion Bank's proposed acquisition of First Horizon Corp., arguing that the $13.4 billion deal would harm low-income communities and reduce small- business lending. In a letter to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the groups also cited the bank's overdraft-fee practices and made the case that large bank consolidation adds to systemic risk.

Taylor Roberson, federal policy counsel at consumer advocacy group Center for Responsible Lending, told DW: "One of the most positive aspects of the product has to do with the potential for consumers who pay on time to have that payment history positively recorded on their credit reports. And that's perhaps where the benefits end." Roberson explained how at present, consumers are not rewarded by credit rating agencies for paying BNPL loans on time, partly because these lenders are not required to report their data like other lenders.

“(BofA) is miles ahead of what Wells and Chase have done. Both of them did some reforms, we certainly applaud those changes, but they are still charging the $35 fee,” said Mike Calhoun, head of the Center for Responsible Lending and a long-time critic of overdraft fee practices. Calhoun sits on an advisory board that includes several other consumer advocacy groups that advised BofA on the changes.