CRL in the News

REFINANCING STUDENT loans can save you money under the right circumstances. It could be helpful to score a lower interest rate, to change from a variable interest rate to a fixed rate, to consolidate your loans for a single monthly payment, or to release a co-signer. At the same time, you could lose protections and benefits from your original student...

Students attending for-profit colleges continue to be less likely to graduate than their counterparts at public institutions, the Center for Responsible Lending says. The center has analyzed government data that show students from for-profit higher education institutions carry more debt regardless of whether they graduate, and they default on that debt at higher rates.

THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU penalized a man $1 this week, for illegally exchanging veterans’ pensions for high-interest “cash advances.” Mark Corbett claimed in sworn statements to the bureau that he had an inability to pay any fine of greater value, and the bureau accepted $1 as payment for making illegal, high-cost loans to former members of the armed forces...

While many struggle to make ends meet during the shutdown, some have turned to small-dollar loans to fill the financial vacuum that comes as a result of the ongoing battle raging more than 1,000 miles away in Washington, NBC News reported. Because of a lack of regulations surrounding loans and the Trump administration rescinding some Obama-era protections, the annual percentage...

American residential neighborhoods remain highly segregated by race, and that is no accident. In fact, it is a result of "a state-sponsored system of segregation" set in motion by New Deal federal housing programs designed to expand but also racially partition the nation's housing stock, said Richard Rothstein, author of the 2017 book The Color of Law, a Forgotten History...

CRL's Scott Astrada discusses how the financial stress of the government shutdown may lead furloughed federal employees to take out high-cost predatory loans to try to make ends meet.

On Thursday morning, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — a man whose extraordinarily shady financial history doesn’t get the attention it deserves — appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to talk about the government shutdown. He expressed bafflement at the idea of unpaid federal workers suffering financial hardship, wondering why they don’t just take out loans. “There really is not a good...

Ms. Hering’s case highlights how a flavor of mortgage once panned for its role in the housing meltdown a decade ago is making a comeback. These loans, aimed at buyers with unusual circumstances such as those who can’t provide the standard proofs of income, are growing rapidly even as rising interest rates and higher home prices crimp demand for mortgages...

As 800,000 federal employees brace for another missed paycheck this week, banks, cellphone companies and nonprofit organizations are stepping up to help workers hurt by the month-long government shutdown. Creditors from big banks to local credit unions and utility and telecom companies are offering forbearance, waiving late fees and providing short-term, no-interest loans for affected workers. For many, it’s the...

Taken a trip to the emergency room lately? Moved across country for a new job? If you're like millions of Americans, the unexpected medical costs or security deposit for your new pad blew a hole in your budget. That's the upshot of a new Bankrate survey that found six of 10 people in the U.S. lack the savings to handle...