Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eric Stein, Senior Vice President at Self-Help, a community development lender and parent of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), released the following statement after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced, in a letter to Members of Congress, that its forthcoming proposal will not rely solely on a loan’s debt-to-income ratio (DTI) in determining whether it...

The CFPB’s structure is constitutional and critical to ensuring that it can carry out its consumer protection mission free from undue political and industry influence. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC (Cohen Milstein) submitted an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Seila Law...

Groups Strongly Oppose OCC Proposal that Would Bypass State Rate Caps to Allow High-Cost Predatory Loans Washington, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending, National Consumer Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG, sent a strong message...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives passed, H.J.Res. 76, a resolution disapproving the Department of Education’s current Borrower Defense to Repayment rule under the Congressional Review Act. Once in effect, the 2019 regulation will severely weaken accountability for predatory for-profit colleges, prevent defrauded students from accessing relief, and fuel the growing $1.5 trillion student debt crisis that disproportionately...

DURHAM, N.C. – Today the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released a report analyzing the impact of a 36% interest rate cap on South Dakota following its 2016 passage by ballot measure. The Sky Doesn’t Fall: Life After Payday Lending in South Dakota finds that some South Dakotans are still suffering the harmful consequences of predatory payday lending from before...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a new proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule that would reduce the financial pressure local governments, states, and public housing agencies have to meet their fair housing obligations. HUD published its AFFH rule in 2015. In 2018, HUD effectively suspended the rule and removed the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a proposal to reform the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)—the landmark anti-redlining law enacted nine years after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to stop persistent discrimination in lending. The Federal Reserve, which shares a regulatory oversight role on CRA...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released a student loan debt relief formula that undercuts defrauded borrowers, particularly those who went to ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges. The flawed and convoluted methodology, which will be applied to the more than 200,000 outstanding claims pending review by the department, seeks to make it difficult for students to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced today that the University of Phoenix, owned by Apollo Education Group, must pay $191 million to settle federal charges that it used false advertisement to lure its students with job placement promises at major U.S. corporations. The FTC said it was the largest settlement ever reached against a for-profit school. Whitney...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the FUTURE Act, a bill to extend important mandatory funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) that expired in September. The legislation is expected to get the U.S. Senate’s final approval. The bill includes a...