Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, President Biden and the Small Business Administration announced several important improvements to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) designed to help small businesses survive the pandemic economy. The $800 billion PPP had structural flaws since its inception that favored larger, more well-resourced businesses. Nearly 95% of Black-owned firms and 91% of Latino-owned firms have no employees beyond...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Community Self-Help (Self-Help) and its policy-focused affiliate, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), called for stronger rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) – a landmark civil rights and anti-redlining law – in their jointly filed comment letter to the Federal Reserve Board on its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). Melissa Stegman, Senior...

Seventeen states and DC now cap rates at around 36% or lower to stop abusive debt trap loans, with Illinois poised to become the eighteenth DURHAM, NC – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released a new map showing the typical annual interest rate of a payday loan in states across the country. The map reflects a trend toward...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, 100 organizations supporting African American, Latino and immigrant-owned businesses called on the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Administration and Congressional leaders to enact immediate changes to ensure that relief through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) gets to the business owners who need it the most. Organizations signing on include the Center for Responsible Lending, Local...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released an analysis that connects the dots between student loan default and delinquency rates among Black and Latino business owners and barriers to accessing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans intended to keep small businesses alive during the pandemic. Over 800,000 self-employed people were behind on their student debt before the...

Housing and Civil Rights Groups Call for Homeowner Assistance Fund to Avoid New Wave of Foreclosures and Devastating Effects for Communities of Color WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, leading housing and civil rights groups applauded Senator Jack Reed’s reintroduction of the Homeowner Assistance Fund bill as Congress and the Biden administration consider the next COVID-19 relief package. Senators Sherrod Brown and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the budget resolution for President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal. This vote comes after Senate Democrats passed the resolution with a simple majority of 51 votes, part of a procedural tool known as reconciliation. Congress will now write a final bill that can be passed by a simple majority...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) filed a brief in the Supreme Court in support of Thelma McCoy's petition to have the court take up undue hardship discharge for student debt in bankruptcy. Currently and for some time, different courts of appeal have split in how they interpret what is "undue hardship," with some courts taking...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Janet Yellen was sworn in as the Secretary of the Treasury after her confirmation yesterday by an 84 to 15 vote of the U.S. Senate. President of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Mike Calhoun made the following statement: Treasury Secretary Yellen’s swift, bipartisan confirmation as the first woman to hold this role is a historic...

WASHINGTON DC - This afternoon, President Joe Biden outlined an agenda and signed executive actions to move forward on several important fronts toward racial equity, including a measure directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reassess a Trump Administration rule that hindered a plaintiff’s ability to prove housing discrimination. This Presidential Memorandum acknowledges the role the federal government...