Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Federal banking regulators today passed updates to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), one of the seminal pieces of legislation to address systemic inequities in access to credit. The Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve System and Federal Deposit Insurance System made the revisions to increase transparency and bring the regulatory system in-line with modern banking practices, including...

Five Democratic Senators betrayed small business owners Wednesday by voting with Republicans to rescind recently finalized small business lending data rules known as Section 1071, leading consumer advocacy groups said. From Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) President Mike Calhoun: “We strongly oppose the Senate’s CRA bill and urge the House to support the small businesses that power the nation’s economy...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today published its new Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Appraisal-Level Public Use File (PUF) on mortgage loans sold to the Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. FHFA said the dataset can be used to, among other things, study housing valuation, housing market disparities and inequities, and consumer preferences...

New policy briefs from CRL and NCLC recommend protections to shield consumers from abusive fintech cash advances WASHINGTON – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) released an issue brief, “ State Recommendations for Earned Wage Advances and Other Fintech Cash Advances.” “Fintech cash advances are credit and...

DURHAM, NC - North Carolinians involved in the criminal justice system are assessed financial obligations that can add up to thousands of dollars—and most are poor and cannot pay them. The practice of converting these fines and fees to civil judgments has become increasingly common in the state, finds a report released today by the Center for Responsible Lending, Forward...

Over four in five voters back the CFPB’s mission WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following oral arguments made before the U.S. Supreme Court on the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new poll – commissioned by the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform and released today – shows overwhelming support from Republican, Democratic, and independent voters...

Lawsuit poses existential threat to CFPB and, through precedent, to the Federal Reserve, Medicare, and other crucial government services WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow will hear arguments for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association. In CFPB v. CFSA, payday lenders call for the Court to stop CFPB operations – an outcome that would eliminate...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal district court judge in Texas ruled last Friday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may not monitor companies that provide checking accounts and other non-credit financial services to ensure they are not discriminating based on protected characteristics, such as a person’s race, religion, or sex. The CFPB had pointed to this discrimination as also...

Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 2 pm ET, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), the Constitutional Accountability Center, and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) will host a press call to preview one of the most important cases coming before the Supreme Court this term: CFPB v CFSA, a constitutional challenge to the funding structure of the Consumer...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Congresswoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) introduced companion Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions yesterday to repeal the Saving on a Valuable Education, or “SAVE,” income-driven repayment (IDR) plan announced by the Biden administration earlier this year. The CRA is a tool Congress can use to overturn final rules from federal agencies. Under SAVE...