CRL in the News

Host Frank Stasio talks about the landscape of student loan debt during COVID-19 and beyond with WUNC education reporter Liz Schlemmer; Rochelle Sparko, director for NC Policy at the Center for Responsible Lending; and Trey Roberts, a first-generation college graduate and co-founder of Raleigh Pride.

A non-profit group called Center for Responsible Lending points to structural flaws in the PPP's initial design as a reason for the discrepancy. According to the organization, people of color are likely to have fewer employees and less revenue than white-owned businesses. "As a result, there were less likely to qualify for larger loans that would yield the higher fees...

The Center for Responsible Lending estimated in April that approximately 95% of black-owned businesses, 91% of Latino-owned businesses, 91% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses and 75% of Asian-owned businesses were unlikely to receive a PPP loan through a mainstream bank or credit union.

But the provision is not retroactive, analysts point out, and it remains unclear just how helpful the measure would be with more than 100 million payments already delivered by the IRS. For people who have already had their stimulus payments garnished, “it doesn’t do much,” said Kiran Sidhu, policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending.

"You know the Paycheck Protection Program that everyone was so excited about? Then we found out that a lot of black businesses couldn’t get the money. The center for responsible lending estimated that 95 percent of black businesses didn't get money from that first round,” Kearney said.

An additional problem for these owners is that their businesses are more likely to be sole proprietorships, according to Ashley Harrington, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. "When we're talking about businesses of color, most of them are very small businesses. So they're sole proprietorships or they have less than 10 employees or in fact more likely...

Whitney Barkley-Denney from the Center for Responsible Lending said the federal government can and should force the loan servicers to follow the rules. “They have multimillion dollar contracts with these servicers and, by the way, it’s taxpayer money that’s paying these servicers to properly service student loans and so the Department of Education absolutely has a role in enforcing their...

The federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program is mainly lending to existing customers, and many business owners of color lack such relationships. As a result, a recent report by the Center for Responsible Lending found that 95% of black-owned businesses, 91% of Latino-owned businesses and 75% of Asian-owned businesses “stand close to no chance of receiving a PPP loan through a...

Many of the suits end in automatic victories for collectors, the report found. That’s probably because consumers sued for debts rarely have lawyers. And for various reasons, debtors often fail to show up for hearings. People may not be able to afford a lawyer, may be unable to take time off work or may not have been properly notified, said...

A recent survey by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) found the odds are against businesses owned by people of color. A report done by the group estimates “roughly 95% of Black-owned businesses, 91% of Latino-owned businesses, 91% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses, and 75% of Asian-owned businesses stand close to no chance of receiving a PPP loan...