Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. - From January 8-11, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) hosted the second of three negotiated rulemaking sessions on its Borrower Defense to Repayment Rule. The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and other advocates are working with DOE officials to strike an agreement to protect students defrauded by their schools. “We remain concerned that the outcome of this...

Investigation uncovered that white borrowers with weaker credit profiles received less expensive financing and more favorable treatment than their non-white counterparts who were more financially qualified. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) released an investigative report detailing the ongoing racially discriminatory practices that exist in the auto lending market. In their findings, NFHA uncovered that more...

Proposed Changes In Housing Finance Reform Could Reduce the Ability of Community Banks and Credit Unions to Provide Mortgage Credit WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Brookings Institution’s Center on Regulation and Markets published a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) on the state of the rural housing market. While almost a quarter of Americans live in rural communities, they...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Leading civil and human rights organizations and housing policy advocates wrote in a letter today that both the U.S. Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees to demand that stakeholders—now excluded from current Congressional discussion on reforming the nation’s housing finance system—be expanded to include all voices and perspectives. Organizations seeking to advise the congressional committees are...

Bill to dismantle higher education opportunity passes committee after late night vote and without bipartisan support WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, shortly after midnight, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed the PROSPER Act, a bill to eliminate important programs and safeguards that make higher education accessible and affordable for low-income students. The bill was approved without bipartisan support...

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion calling for a comprehensive approach to protect consumers from the severe harms of predatory high-cost installment loans. The motion, which was introduced by LA County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, instructs several of the Los Angeles County agencies, including the Department of Business and...

DURHAM, NC — Ignoring the voices of families and communities who have worked for many years for relief from the harms of predatory payday lending, a handful of members of Congress have introduced legislation that would nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (Consumer Bureau) national rule to rein in payday lending abuses. Their legislation uses Congressional Review Act authority to...

Interactive Map and Fact Sheets Break Down Numbers DURHAM, N.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released, “ The State of For-Profit Colleges” today, featuring an interactive map that enumerates for-profit colleges by state and fact sheets that indicate, in most states, the disproportionate harms on low-income families, communities of color and women. With certain exceptions, the scroll-over map...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Government Accountability Office (GAO) letter released earlier this week in response to a Congressional inquiry threatens to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (Consumer Bureau) 2013 indirect auto lending guidance. This important guidance is a key step to limit discriminatory impact of dealer interest rate markups in the auto lending industry. In the letter, the GAO...

Agency’s Independence Is Necessary to Its Mission, Groups Say WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from external political influence is crucial to the agency’s mission of protecting consumers, 10 groups told a court today in an amicus brief (PDF) filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The groups are Public Citizen...