Today, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) President Mike Calhoun testified before the House Financial Services Committee’s Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee for a hearing entitled “The State of Bank Lending in America.” Calhoun discussed recent trends in lending and how the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is working to expand credit and strengthen consumer protection, and he underscored what steps lawmakers can take to build on this progress.
"Community banks are helping to spearhead our nation’s economic recovery. Bank and credit union profitability is near record levels, and lending volumes are increasing. As described in my testimony, there are several commonsense steps that can be taken immediately so that more American families can access sustainable credit and experience a personal economic recovery," said Calhoun. "At the same time, we must reject perniciously proposed reforms, such as providing Qualified Mortgage status for all loans held in portfolio by lending institutions of any size, which threaten to plunge our nation into another economic catastrophe."
View Calhoun’s written testimony for the record.
View a video to today's hearing.
For more information, or to arrange an interview with a CRL spokesperson on this issue, please contact Ricardo Quinto at ricardo.quinto@responsiblelending.org.