CRL in the News

On this tenth anniversary of the financial crisis, there have been many retrospectives on the US government’s response to that catastrophe, with more to come. The commentary to date has largely focused on the extraordinary measures taken to prevent a much deeper collapse of the American and global economies. Measures were implemented to address the immediate crisis and reduce the likelihood of a repeat event. Both had a significant impact. But in examining the crisis and its responses, it is critical to remember that it was triggered and substantially driven by a dysfunctional housing market

For many students, the path toward enrolling in a for-profit college starts with an advertisement—maybe while browsing online or watching a favorite television show. Either way, the message is usually the same: Get off the couch and do something with your life. The ads feature compelling and relatable stories: A young—or perhaps middle-aged—African-American stuck in a dead-end job and looking for change. A single mother trying to provide a better life for her children. A military veteran contemplating next steps after returning home. When prospective students stumble upon ads that catch their

Lawsuits filed by homeowners, city governments and nonprofits like the American Civil Liberties Union accuse Wall Street banks of targeting African-American and Latino customers with predatory loans leading up to the financial crisis. “In many ways, we had a dual credit market where they were just getting pushed into the riskier side of the market, and a lot of that activity was stemming from mortgage brokers who were pushing loans,” said Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending.

A round-up of recent news related to the Military Lending Act: The effort to roll back financial protections for military servicemembers by weakening the Military Lending Act has garnered lots of press attention. It’s in military-heavy states, in military focused outlets, in national outlets, inside-the-beltway, and in finance-focused outlets. State/Local News EDITORIAL Greensboro (NC) News and Record: Let's not drop protections for troops from attacks by predatory lenders “Members of the armed forces and their families make significant sacrifices to keep our country safe. The least our

Listen to an interview with Lisa Stifler on the Steve Gruber Show about the dangers of payday loans. Lisa also discusses some of the research findings in CRL's new report, Power Steering: Payday Lenders Targeting Vulnerable Michigan Communities.

Although an increasing number of states has passed laws to protect consumers by capping interest rates on payday loans, lenders have found creative ways to get around those regulations and issue loans with sky-high rates. “We see payday lenders utilizing schemes just to get out from as many kinds of restrictions as they can,” said Diane Standaert, director of state policy at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on consumer lending.

Groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Center for Responsible Lending, and the Consumer Federation of America have endorsed the bill.

“Given the opportunity, predatory lenders will target military service members and pull them into horrific debt traps,” said Scott Astrada, Center for Responsible Lending federal advocacy director. “The bipartisan Military Lending Act has helped put an end to these shameful practices. We applaud these senators for calling on the CFPB to fulfill its obligation of stopping loan sharks from preying upon service members and their families.”

The nonprofit research group Center for Responsible Lending said changes proposed by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could hurt Georgia’s military service members. The federal agency’s interim director Mick Mulvaney said he doesn’t want his agency to be responsible for enforcing the Military Lending Act by proactively supervising banks, credit card companies, and other lenders.

A report from the Center for Responsible Lending, “The State of For-Profit Colleges,” presents a state-by-state analysis of for-profit schools in America, and reveals that students in for-profit schools are generally less likely to graduate, more likely to borrow, are deeper in debt, more likely to default an have poor outcomes than students in public and private 4-year colleges. Further, Black people, women and the poor are disparately impacted. For example, in Georgia, 68.1 percent of undergraduates enrolled in for-profit colleges are low-income, 56.9 percent are Black, and 68.6 percent are