Press Releases

WASHINGTON– More than 160 consumer, labor, civil rights, faith-based, and community organizations submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in support of its proposed interpretive rule ensuring important legal protections for consumers who use earned wage advance (EWA) or other fintech cash advance products that need to be repaid with the borrower’s next paycheck. The letter...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal judge on Monday ruled in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rule requiring lenders to collect demographic data on small business borrowers applying for loans. Mitria Wilson-Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), made the following statement: The court correctly held that the CFPB was well...

WASHINGTON, DC – Federal consumer regulatory agencies today released data and resources that reflect findings in a  paper released last week by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) that show the nation’s leading residential solar energy financing lenders currently use many of the predatory methods employed in the subprime mortgage lending market of 2007-2010 – including undisclosed profit arrangements with their preferred...

WASHINGTON, D.C., – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to implement more robust protections for Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) digital user accounts in a comment letter submitted yesterday evening. The letter was issued in response to the Bureau’s call for public input on an interpretive rule for BNPL lenders published in May...

CRL's Shady Side of Solar System Financing Paper Shows Need for Stronger Consumer Protection and Regulatory Enforcement WASHINGTON, DC – A paper released today by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) revealed that the nation’s leading residential solar energy financing lenders operate under a business model that uses many of the predatory methods employed in the subprime mortgage lending market...

WASHINGTON, DC – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued a proposed interpretive rule that will ensure important legal protections for consumers who use fast-growing wage advance loan products. The proposed rule clarifies that so-called earned wage advance (EWA) products are loans, and that many tips and fees, like expedited delivery fees, are finance charges under the federal Truth...

WASHINGTON, DC – Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), issued the following statement in support of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s approval of a Freddie Mac limited pilot program to purchase single-family closed-end second mortgages: As a research brief CRL co-authored shows, many homeowners have few financially sound options to access their home equity in today’s...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pair of federal judges in Kansas and Missouri on Monday issued injunctions that temporarily halt portions of the Biden administration’s new student loan repayment plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE). These rulings will delay any plans from the administration to provide millions in student debt relief under the program and significantly reduce monthly payments for...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule for Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) lenders. “We welcome this rule as a step toward ensuring consumers have the protections that they reasonably expect from a credit card. We look forward to the CFPB’s continued work in this market,” said Nadine Chabrier, litigation and policy counsel...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) urged the U.S. Department of Education to amend their notice of proposed rulemaking to expand forgiveness of capitalized interest— unpaid interest that is added to the principal of the loan— in a comment letter submitted Friday evening. “We support the Administration’s proposal and believe that these regulatory changes will have a...