Press Releases

A positive move by one of the nation's biggest banks this week highlights the extent of overdraft abuse within the financial system and should encourage bank regulators to undertake further reform. In response to consumer feedback, Citibank announced it will begin clearing checks from lowest to highest to minimize overdraft fees. That will be a departure from clearing check transactions...

We renew our call for bank regulators to do their job by protecting consumers from abusive debit card overdraft practices. Bankers' whining about minor reforms should not slow the progress of prudent banking policy. As the subprime mortgage fiasco shows, bad policy allows bad practices that hurt not only borrowers, but investors, taxpayers and the banks themselves. The FDIC has...

Today marks the end of a long and notorious era in lending history, as new Federal Reserve rules take effect to stop mortgage kickbacks. For years, mortgage brokers and loan officers could charge different borrowers different prices for mortgages, even when borrowers had the same qualifications. By steering some customers into unnecessarily riskier and more expensive loans, mortgage brokers often...

Although payday loans are marketed as quick solutions to occasional financial shortfalls, new research from the Center for Responsible Lending shows that these small dollar loans are far from short-term. Payday Loans, Inc., the latest in a series of CRL payday lending research reports, found that payday loan borrowers are indebted for more than half of the year on average...

New research by the Center for Responsible Lending finds that banks and other loan servicers often foreclose when investors have more to gain from a loan modification. The study—" Fix or Evict? Loan Modifications Return More Value than Foreclosures"—also finds that the industry's poor track record on loan modifications can't be blamed on homeowners who re-default. The research involved running...

REALTORS ® , Homebuilders, consumer groups urge federal regulators to avoid arbitrarily high mortgage down payments, which would hurt the economy by unfairly and unnecessarily closing the door to home ownership for many middle-class families. http://qa.crl.w.lmdagency.net/research-publication/joint-letter-regulat… For more information: Kathleen Day at (202) 349-1871 or kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org; Ginna Green at (510) 379-5513 or ginna.green@responsiblelending.org; or Charlene Crowell at (919) 313-8523 or...

Some of the biggest banks in the nation still collect excessive fees from American families by encouraging overdrafts and manipulating their customers' accounts. Recent comments in the media suggesting that Americans overwhelmingly choose this costly product are suspect, in part because they overlook millions of customers at banks that do not offer the costly option for debit card transactions. These...

Responding to widespread evidence of improper accounting, unwarranted fees, false documentation, and arbitrary foreclosure decisions, the 50 state Attorneys General are crafting a long-overdue plan to hold the mortgage servicing industry accountable. The plan would address accusations that banks and servicers have engaged in illegal and negligent servicing practices that have been a continued drag on the U.S. housing market...

Oakland, Calif.--Californians struggling to overcome heavy debt will have greater protections and greater success if a bill by State Sen. Majority Leader Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) becomes law. Debt settlement companies advertise prominently on radio and television that they will reduce debts for pennies on the dollar, aiming to attract consumers dealing with overwhelming debt loads. Yet they typically collect...

Oakland, Calif.—California State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) vowed at the end of last year's legislative session that they would not give up on trying to prevent wrongful foreclosures of California homeowners. Their 2010 bill, which would have put an end to banks' pursuing foreclosures while simultaneously considering loan modifications, passed the...