Press Releases

We commend Chairman Frank and Representatives Watt and Miller for taking the lead in addressing the underlying problems that have led to the escalating foreclosure crisis in this country. Banning prepayment penalties in the subprime mortgage market, requiring lenders to assess each borrower's ability to repay, and eliminating the bonuses lenders now pay to brokers to put people in more...

As the nation's foreclosure epidemic continues to worsen, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) has formed the Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance (IFLA) to support groups giving legal representation to families facing foreclosure and financial ruin because of abusive subprime mortgages. The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) will manage the project, which recognizes that one of the biggest barriers...

We're glad leading members of Congress want to provide more legal and counseling help to the millions of families who have or will lose their homes to foreclosure because of reckless subprime lenders. Congress also must act quickly to change the bankruptcy code to allow judges to modify home loans on primary residences. Right now the code makes the family...

As U.S. soldiers face continuing demands in the call to protect their country, starting October 1 they gain an extra measure of protection from a lingering financial threat to their own families. The federal Military Lending Act will take effect Monday, and will bar predatory lenders from gouging military families with payday loans that trap borrowers in debt and typically...

Millions of college students and other young adults aged 18 to 24 have become unwitting participants in overdraft loans that cost them nearly $1 billion a year in fees, a report released today by the nonprofit research group, Center for Responsible Lending, finds. The report, " Billion Dollar Deal," says this age group -- which has been dubbed the "plastic...

Good morning, I'm Eric Halperin, director of the Center for Responsible Lending's Washington office. I appreciate Congresswoman Maloney's invitation to join her this morning as CRL releases new findings in our ongoing investigation of overdraft lending. Our new report, " Billion Dollar Deal," finds that abusive overdraft loans are draining the checking accounts of young adults to the tune of...

In a powerful move to protect Washington, DC citizens from predatory payday lenders, the District of Columbia Council removed an exemption from the District's 24 percent cap on annual interest for consumer loans today. The vote is likely to encourage other states to pass interest rate caps to stop predatory payday lending—industry-supported measures have failed to control loan flipping in...

Today the Federal Reserve Board issued a bulletin with its preliminary report on 2006 data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). We have not yet conducted a full analysis of the Board's report, but an initial review finds that, once again, African American and Latino families receive a disproportionate share of higher-cost, subprime home loans. "Higher-cost" loans have...

Predatory lenders could easily tweak their loan terms to dodge new Pentagon rules released Friday, said national consumer advocates. By narrowly defining problem loans, the Pentagon's final rules of implementation weaken a federal law enacted to protect military families from abusive financial practices. "Perhaps unintentionally, the Pentagon has provided predatory lenders with a set of very specific instructions: 'How to...

The 2nd Quarter National Delinquency Survey, released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), shows that mortgage loans entering foreclosure have increased in 47 states since this time last year. On average, the increases were 50% higher. Only four states-- North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming—did not experience increases in new foreclosures. Less than two percent of the American...