Press Releases

Consumer groups strongly support Senator Christopher Dodd for introducing a bill this week that would curb many of the abusive overdraft practices of banks and credit unions. Those practices now strip nearly $24 billion annually from checking accounts, primarily from Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck. The "Fairness and Accountability in Receiving Overdraft Coverage Act" ("FAIR Act") that Dodd has proposed would require...

Banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees last year, an increase of 35 percent from just two years earlier, a new study by the Center for Responsible lending shows. The explosion in overdraft charges has drained the wallet of as many as 51 million Americans whose accounts become overdrawn annually. It is particularly harmful to financially...

"Americans are fed up with bank overdraft practices. Media scrutiny and proposed legislation in Congress prompted three of the nation's largest banks to unveil changes to their overdraft policies this week. But the changes are far from enough and, in fact, underscore the need for comprehensive overdraft reform as quickly as possible. Only one of the three banks has announced...

Statement by Mike Calhoun, president of CRL, on credit card legislation proposed today by Joint Economic Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank "Hard-working Americans who use credit cards to help pay bills, buy groceries, and make ends meet need relief sooner rather than later from the industry's destructive tricks and traps, especially during hard...

"We're pleased Chairman Frank remains dedicated to the creation of an agency focused on ensuring that consumer financial markets work fairly. Moving forward, we must ensure that the agency isn't dominated by the regulatory agencies that helped cause the current crisis. We must ensure it has oversight over the financial products that are critical in the daily lives of millions...

Foreclosure trends in North Carolina are dramatic and disturbing. Over recent years, foreclosure filings have tripled, with almost 40,000 foreclosure filings in the first eight months of this year. In addition, at the end of the second quarter 2009, the MBA National Delinquency Survey states that one out of ten NC borrowers are behind on their home loan. For the...

"On the anniversary of the costliest financial bailout in U.S. history, we back President Obama's renewed call for the creation of a new agency to bring commonsense oversight to the financial services industry and, in the process, protect consumers, taxpayers and the economy from a repeat of the current fiasco. The regulators responsible for making our financial system work have...

Statement by Michael Calhoun, President, Center for Responsible Lending The federal report card on the mortgage industry's voluntary effort to stop foreclosures shows a growing number of families have received a loan modification. That's good news, but hardly enough. Given the magnitude of serious delinquencies and projected foreclosures starts in the months ahead, these gains fall far short of what's...

Statement of Eric Halperin, CRL Senior Litigation Counsel and Deputy Director "This morning's New York Times reported that a federal court in Manhattan has declined to take action on a lawsuit pending between Countrywide Financial Corporation and certain mortgage investors. Nothing in the court's decision casts any doubt on mortgage servicers' legal ability to modify distressed loans. Instead, Judge Holwell's...

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported today that serious mortgage delinquencies (those 90+ days past due or in foreclosure) reached record levels in 2nd Quarter 2009, surpassing the previous record set one quarter earlier. According to new MBA statistics, over 13% of all loans are now past due and 1 in 12 borrowers is seriously delinquent on their mortgage. By...