CRL in the News

Yesterday, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in which it concluded that the federal Higher Education Act (HEA) does not preempt state law claims against student loan servicers. The case involves a student loan borrower who brought a putative class action against the loan servicer alleging violations of the Illinois...

Kyra Bowerman was trapped in a vicious banking cycle. The Indianapolis teacher and single mom of two would open a bank account. An expensive day care bill would come due at the same time she needed to pay for rent, utilities and food. The bank would charge an overdraft fee. The account would close.

The student debt crisis is reaching a breaking point — and many grads are regretting their pricey degrees. A new study from the FINRA Foundation found that almost half of Americans with student loans wish they’d chosen a less expensive college, compared to only 9% among those who did not graduate with debt.

Often it’s the smallest charge that triggers the biggest fee. Overdraft fees, which is what banks charge when transactions including debit card purchases cause your account to drop below zero, average $35 — nearly twice the size of the average $20 debit card transaction, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Altogether, customers of larger banks paid more than $11...

LUDINGTON—Four years ago, Merenda Vincent was desperate for cash. She had an overdue car payment, along with a medical bill she couldn’t pay. Living on a monthly Social Security check of less than $1,000, she had no money in the bank. Vincent recalled that she walked into a payday lending store called Check ‘n Go outside Ludington, a small Lake...

Startups that provide early access to workers’ earned wages are jostling over key aspects of pending California legislation that would create the nation’s first-ever regulatory framework for the nascent industry. The state Senate passed a bill 35-0 last month, but interviews with executives in the fast-growing sector revealed big disagreements about the legislation. Those disputes reflect key differences in their...

Are more $38 cups of coffee on the horizon? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened a review of the decade-old federal “overdraft rule,” which regulates how banks charge fees when their customers spend more than what is in their checking accounts. Under the rule, banks must get their customers’ express permission before charging a penalty for overspending, whether through...

Bank fees have gotten way out of hand — so much so that they now account for more than a third of revenue for an industry that once made its cash almost exclusively by lending money to customers. And the worst of the worst are overdraft fees. They’re little more than cash grabs, serving no purpose but to fatten bankers’...

As Orlando-area rents continue to climb, a major bank is offering a pair of home-buyer grants that could help low- and moderate-income residents make the leap to ownership. This week the region became one of 49 national markets targeted by Bank of America for a five-year, $5 billion affordable home ownership initiative. The effort provides eligible home buyers a down-payment...

The rate of Black homeownership in America – now at 41.1 percent, according to 2019 U. S. Census numbers – is even lower than it was when the U. S. Fair Housing Act was signed into law 51 years ago on April 11, 1968. This means Black homeownership is 32.1 percentage points lower than that of Whites, which stands at...