Press Releases

Banks engage in unfair practices to drive up overdraft fees WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released Unfair Market: The State of High-Cost Overdraft Practices in 2017, a report analyzing the overdraft fee revenue generated by banks and the overdraft practices of the 10 largest banks across the United States. According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) data, banks with over $1 billion in assets collected more than $11.45 billion in overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) in 2017. "These banks drain billions of dollars annually from their

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, U.S. Senators Corey Booker (D-N.J.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced the Stop Overdraft Profiteering Act to crack down on unfair overdraft fees. The bill would establish reasonable safeguards for checking account holders; restore transparency to the checking account market; and ultimately encourage banks to expand responsible small dollar loan offerings rather than perpetuate harmful overdraft fee practices. Abusive overdraft fees strip billions every year from the pockets of American families, often through practices designed to maximize overdraft revenue for

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Voters of all political parties overwhelmingly oppose the actions taken by Mick Mulvaney to undermine the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and feel a strong connection between lax enforcement of the rules on Wall Street and their daily welfare, according to a new poll release by Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Ten years after the 2008 financial crisis brought on a searing recession, the survey revealed enduring, strong, and bipartisan support for tougher regulation of Wall Street and predatory

Report Calls for Repeal of CFPB’s Payday Rule and Override of State Laws WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Treasury issued a new report calling for broad deregulation of nonbank lenders, including financial technology (fintech) firms. Specifically, the report endorses the repeal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Payday Rule, the creation of special federal bank charters for fintech firms, regulatory “sandboxes” that exempt startups from certain consumer protection laws, and federal preemption of state consumer protection laws. These recommendations fly in the

DURHAM, N.C. – A new Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) report reveals financial distress among participants of Colorado focus groups who have taken out longer-term payday loans that are touted by payday lenders as a better, more affordable option than traditional short-term (often two-week) payday loans. Colorado banned short-term payday loans in 2010. Participants stuck in long-term payday loans described difficulty paying bills and faced aggressive debt collection. The hardest hit were those experiencing delinquency or default, which currently happens with one in four Colorado payday

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Education released a draft proposal to overhaul the Obama Administration’s Borrower Defense to Repayment rule. The revision would alter how students secure loan forgiveness when institutions fail to deliver promised requisite skills and knowledge. Under the new proposal, student borrowers would qualify for corrective action only when they could document institutional misrepresentations related to the program of study. Further, borrowers would be required to prove that institutional misrepresentations were made with knowledge, intent or a

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (Va.–03), Ranking Member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, introduced the Aim Higher Act, a bill to make higher education institutions—particularly for-profit colleges—more accountable and transparent to the public. The legislation also includes resources to boost college financial aid support programs for low-income students and improves the current loan repayment system. Across the country, 44 million consumers share the still-growing burden of $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. Center for Responsible Lending Counsel

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Kathy Kraninger, the current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Associate Director and President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), is scheduled to have her nomination hearing tomorrow before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Prior to her role at OMB, Kraninger's experience in the federal government has been focused on security issues, having worked at the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. Throughout her government career, Kraninger has had limited

OAKLAND, CALIF. - Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., one of the country’s largest student loan servicers that was acquired by NelNet Inc. last February, has signaled to the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) that it will not comply with that state’s Student Loan Servicing Act of 2016. The law requires that in order for a servicer to operate in the state, it must apply for state licenses. Great Lakes is claiming that it will follow the U.S. Department of Education's footsteps in seeking to thwart state authority to hold student loan servicers accountable. This move by

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On July 9, 2018, Brett Kavanaugh, a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was nominated to be the next associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2016, Kavanaugh authored an opinion for a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit considering an appeal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforcement order in PHH Corporation vs. CFPB. The CFPB had found that PHH, a non-bank mortgage lender, had violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), which generally covers closing