CRL in the News

This week, the estimated 800,000 government employees affected by the partial government shutdown are about to start missing their paychecks, and lenders are stepping in with offers to help — some good, some bad, and none automatic. Most of the biggest consumer banks are offering to waive fees and interest charges for some customers, but not all.

Over the summer, Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown of Ohio introduced legislation that would take a large bite out of the roughly $15 billion that banks collect annually from overdraft fees. Their bill would ban such charges on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals. It would also prohibit banks from charging more than six overdraft...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has a long list of items on her agenda as the head of a House committee charged with overseeing the banking industry and economy. Whether it’s bringing in Wells Fargo representatives for questioning, finding out what Mick Mulvaney did at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or creating a subcommittee on discrimination to make sure the playing...

WASHINGTON — The past year brought hope that regulators are finally focused on about modernizing the decades-old Community Reinvestment Act. But translating that momentum into an actual reform plan in 2019 will not be easy. “These reforms, by no stretch of the imagination, are strengthening [CRA] or making it more efficient,” said Scott Astrada, director of federal advocacy at the...

December 24, 2018 By Scott Astrada Anita Monti wanted to get her grandchildren presents for Christmas. She couldn’t afford them, so she took out a payday loan from Advance America. The company promised a quick fix. Instead, the grandmother “went through hell” for several months as she was trapped in a cycle of debt. During this time, she had to...

WASHINGTON — Recent steps allowing more lenders to skip outside appraisals are seen as removing a key hurdle to closings, but appraisers say they could be collateral damage from the deregulatory policies. The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a proposal last month to raise the threshold for residential real estate...

A recent op-ed by Cato Institute policy analyst Diego Zuluaga suggested that lawmakers should eliminate the Community Reinvestment Act, claiming this law is inefficient and other safeguards are already in place to push back against discriminatory lending. The belief that the CRA should be scrapped is misguided and tone-deaf — unlawful discrimination in mortgage lending remains a real challenge for...

College-sponsored bank accounts ding students with millions of dollars in fees each year, according to a report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Education Department under President Donald Trump never published the analysis but advocacy groups recently obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request. The bureau reviewed 573 colleges across the country with marketing agreements with banks...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Ask Galen and Alice Henderson about their dream home, and the couple doesn't skip a beat. There would be a finished basement, they say. A two-car garage. A big backyard. And three bedrooms so their children - Zahir, 8, and Jamyah, 13 - don't have to share one. Nothing too fancy, they say, just a place...

A new poll shows that student loan debt and predatory practices by some lenders that make paying loans back increasingly expensive prevents a majority of borrowers in the state from buying a home, a car or paying for necessities, and has spurred as many as one in four to move out of state for better-paying jobs. Female borrowers, those who...