CRL in the News

Sallie Mae, the student loan provider once sponsored by the government, is expanding into credit cards. The company this month unveiled a suite of three credit cards aimed at college students, recent graduates and young professionals. Its new cards offer rewards for responsible financial behavior. They come 18 months after the company introduced personal loans.

Millions of Americans have filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy to eliminate crippling debt and get a fresh financial start, but nowadays it isn’t unusual for people to come out of the process still owing much of their debt in the form of student loans, according to a report issued Tuesday by LendEDU. Based on anonymized data from 1,083 bankruptcy cases across...

Bringing “real accountability to the Wild West of student loan servicing,” Maine lawmakers passed a “Student Loan Bill of Rights,” which will give the state the authority to investigate and intervene when borrowers complain of abusive or deceptive practices by student loan lenders. The bill, unanimously passed by the Maine Senate on Monday, moves now to Governor Janet Mills’ desk...

Tim Worstall recently took issue with the Center for Responsible Lending’s position that payday loans should be capped at a 36% annual rate. He seemed troubled by the fact that with such a rate cap in place, payday lenders choose to no longer make their predatory loans. I’d like to offer some clarity. First, yes, it’s true — we do...

You’ve seen them scattered along the outskirts of highways. It seems that around every corner, you’re bombarded with the opportunity to “get cash now!” And though the promise of instant funds is captivating, how wise is it to get that cash now? Not very, according to statistics. Payday loans, as they’re commonly referred to, are less about receiving money instantly...

State lawmakers have again taken aim at the growing student-debt crisis in New Jersey, releasing a bill that former Gov. Chris Christie let die when he left office. The Assembly Higher Education Committee on Thursday passed S-1149/A-455 which would establish a student-loan ombudsman within the state Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI). It would give DOBI the power to enforce...

Last month 400 extremely fortunate Morehouse College graduates flipped their tassels to the amazing revelation that they would be starting their post-college careers without student debt. Richard Smith, an incredibly generous billionaire from Texas, has pledged to pay off all of their student loans. Smith’s gesture is noble, but unfortunately most other college graduates can’t count on the generosity of...

Civil rights organizations are urging the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to step up oversight of the student-loan servicing industry and root out discrimination. It has been two years since the bureau identified student-loan servicing as posing substantial risk of credit discrimination and pledged further investigation into disparate outcomes for borrowers. That level of evaluation requires records and...

In a bid to give consumers more choice when it comes to credit card and other disputes with corporations, two Democratic lawmakers are pursuing the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act. The bill would do away with forced arbitration clauses relating to credit card disputes. This means consumers would have the choice of opting for arbitration after a dispute erupts, instead...

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...