CRL in the News

In recent months, many economists and lawmakers have frequently touted how the nation’s economy is performing really well. Often citing historically low unemployment rates, I’ve always felt that such pronouncements failed to consider the untold millions of Americans who are eking out a living on low or no raises, or others who work multiple jobs trying to piece together a...

Rhythm & News interview with Charlene Crowell, with the Center for Responsible Lending, about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s pending reversal of their payday lending policy. Interview by Chris B. Bennett.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — One of Shekinah Mitchell's favorite memories in Richmond is walking out of her favorite corner store 10 years ago and serendipitously meeting the man who would become her husband. Today, that corner store no longer exists. Mitchell's story is part of a larger pattern that policy experts said is becoming increasingly common in Richmond and around...

Here’s another reminder that, when it comes to the Trump administration, it’s more important to watch what the White House does rather than what it says. The payday lending industry scored a huge win when the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed to weaken Obama-administration rules governing an industry that makes its money by exploiting people in desperate financial straits...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said its proposal to roll back regulation for payday lenders will give consumers more access to credit — but as far as senior citizens are concerned, that may not be a good thing. The Obama-era regulation, which was finalized in 2017 and was to be implemented in August of this year, required payday lenders to...

The benefit of the doubt new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger received from some consumer advocates evaporated this week when she indicated she would ax payday lending standards developed under Obama CFPB Chief Richard Cordray. On the day last December Kraninger was confirmed by the Senate Cordray appeared to ask his followers not to oppose her from the...

The cycle of the payday loan is a well-known horror story. A person needs money, and they need it fast, so they visit a payday lender with names like EZ Cash or Cash Express. They get their money on the spot. The trouble comes later, when it’s time to repay the loan. Most borrowers default on that small-dollar loan, which...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it plans to roll back its Payday Lending Rule aimed at protecting consumers from the high-interest short-term loans. The proposed changes would be one of the first major policy implementations made by new director Kathy Kraninger. Established in 2018, the Payday Lending ruleaimed to protect consumers from bad lending practices and repayment abuse. The...

In 2016, Donald Trump slithered into the White House by pitching himself as the guy who would save the working class. That pitch, obviously, turned to be a classic Trump scam, given that the former real-estate developer’s “accomplishments” in the past two years have included passing a giant tax cut that disproportionately benefits corporations and the uber-rich; sabotaging the Affordable...

La Oficina de Protección al Consumidor Financiero (CFPB) ha propuesto eliminar la obligatoriedad de que los prestamistas verifiquen la capacidad de un cliente para devolver un crédito de tipo payday (préstamo del día de pago) y contra los títulos de propiedad de carros (car title lending). El CFPB, bajo la dirección de Kathy Kraninger, cree que no hay “pruebas suficientes...