Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending, Americans for Financial Reform, and other leading national labor, civil rights, consumer advocacy, fair housing, and legal services organizations responded in a joint comment to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on how the agency should update Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) procedures...

Broad Coalition has Urged Agency to Maintain Guidance That Guards Against Unaffordable Loans By Banks WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) yesterday issued a Request for Information (RFI) on small-dollar lending by banks. Existing FDIC policies have kept predatory lending by FDIC-supervised banks largely at bay, and they should not be weakened. Civil rights, faith, and consumer...

Campaign led by representatives of highly impacted communities garnered support from over 50 veterans’ groups, faith groups, lawmakers of both political parties, and both urban and rural communities OAKLAND, C.A.– Coloradans have come together to stop predatory payday lending by passing a 36% cap on annual interest rates for payday loans. Today’s results make Colorado the fifth state to affirm...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This evening, several news outlets are reporting that Congressional Democrats have gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Media wires are also showing that Republicans have kept their majority in the U.S. Senate. Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Executive Vice President Debbie Goldstein released the following statement: We look forward to working with this new Congress...

Film shows sky did not fall when payday lenders stopped charging 574% interest South Dakota – A new 30-minute documentary released today by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), in cooperation with South Dakotans for Responsible Lending, follows the movement to cap the state’s payday, car title, and installment loan interest rates, which previously soared up to 574%. The film...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Mick Mulvaney announced that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to move forward with gutting the agency’s rule to stop abusive payday lending and car-title loan debt traps. The announcement calls for the CFPB to reconsider both the rule's compliance date, as well as its core ability-to-repay provisions. A new proposal is expected in January 2019...

DURHAM, N.C. – A new Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) policy analysis calls for the State of New Jersey to protect student borrowers from abusive practices in the face of weakening federal protections. New Jersey, which ranked sixth in the nation for the level of debt carried by 2017 graduates, can take concrete steps to protect their citizens from the...

Payday Loan Sharks are Allied with New Leadership at the CFPB in Trying to Stop Consumer Safeguards WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalizing its rule to stop payday and car-title debt traps. It is the first-ever federal rule of its kind and came after more than five and a half...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Education publicly announced that it would miss a November 1 deadline to issue new rules to replace Obama-administration rules known as Borrower Defense to Repayment and Gainful Employment. Under Secretary DeVos, the Department had sought to delay, suspend, and rewrite the rules designed to protect students and hold career and technical colleges accountable...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A breaking news report from The New York Times exposes even more racially derogatory remarks from Eric Blankenstein, a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) political appointee handpicked by President Trump and CFPB head Mick Mulvaney to oversee supervision, enforcement, and fair lending. Mr. Blankenstein’s comments are dismissive of racism and show that he is unfit to oversee...