Press Releases

Today, we are reporting that mortgage brokers gave subprime borrowers overpriced home loans, even as they provided competitive rates to people with stronger credit. For brokered loans made between 2004 and 2006, we estimate that typical subprime borrowers will pay $5,222 more in interest over four years than if they had gotten the same loan directly from a lender. These results have serious implications for the estimated five million subprime borrowers who received loans from brokers in this period. They also highlight issues that Congress and financial regulators are facing as they work to

Same borrower qualifications, same loan, but very different prices >> Read the report New research by the Center for Responsible Lending shows that subprime borrowers with brokered loans pay significantly more than their counterparts who deal directly with lenders. In the first four years of a mortgage, a typical subprime borrower who has gone through a broker pays $5,222 more than if he or she obtains the loan directly from a lender. "These findings confirm that mortgage brokers steer many of the most vulnerable borrowers to higher-priced loans than they deserve," said CRL president Michael

Good morning. This is Ted Lieu, and I represent parts of Los Angeles County, including Torrance, Redondo Beach, Marina del Rey and West Los Angeles, in the California Assembly. I want to thank the Center for Responsible Lending for inviting me to take part in the release of this critical research on broker pricing patterns. As many of you know, California is the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. Last year, the Center of Responsible Lending estimated that nearly 500,000 California families would lose their homes to foreclosure due to the reckless lending practices that are so common in the

For more information: Kathleen Day at(202) 349-1871 or kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org; Sharon Reuss at (919) 313-8527 or sharon.reuss@responsiblelending.org; or Ginna Green at (510) 379-5513 or ginna.green@responsiblelending.org.

Washington, DC – More than 15 national organizations (listed below) issued the following joint statement in response to the Foreclosure Prevention Act and its failure to include bankruptcy measures: "The Senate Housing package misses the single most significant step needed to help the 20,000 American families with subprime loans that are losing their homes each week through foreclosure: the bankruptcy amendment. We are left with a bill loaded with special considerations for mortgage companies and builders that does very little for homeowners who were sold predatory loans by mortgage lenders

In response to bankruptcy measures that would help more than half a million families being dropped for the Senate housing package, the following 15 civil rights, consumer and housing groups – Center for Responsible Lending, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, ACORN, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy

The Federal Reserve Board has repeatedly tried since September to contain the foreclosure crisis damage that's spreading rapidly into the general economy. It has lowered key interest rates a half dozen times and, to quote the Wall Street Journal, "undertaken the broadest expansions of its lending authority since the 1930s." The most dramatic action, however, came last weekend as the Federal Reserve orchestrated a bailout of Bear Stearns, one of the main financial firms responsible for causing this subprime mortgage mess in the first place. Bear Stearns has been one of the most aggressive

We're glad the Administration finally recognizes that the subprime crisis was caused by reckless lenders who've been inadequately supervised by federal regulators. The President's Working Group on Financial Markets recognizes the problem was caused largely by "weak government oversight," which allowed loan originators to make loans without regard to whether families could afford to repay them. This diagnosis is correct, but it supports a broader set of solutions than those proposed by the Working Group to prevent another market meltdown and to help as many families as possible who've been

The housing, economic, and mortgage rescue proposal from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is extremely helpful and the Center for Responsible Lending commends him for taking a lead on this issue. His plan recognizes much more help is needed for victims of the subprime mess than is now available. While we welcome any and all plans that help even one more family keep a home, the Treasury Department's "Project Lifeline" has been largely inadequate. Treasury's reliance on voluntary efforts by lenders to help distressed homeowners has simply proved unworkable on a large

The Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance today announced it has awarded $6.5 million in grants to 27 legal-aid offices in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The grants are the first step in a multi-year program to bolster local groups nationwide who are assisting the growing legion of borrowers facing foreclosure. The Institute, a project of the Center for Responsible Lending and managed by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, made the awards to nonprofit groups that demonstrated they already have successful foreclosure prevention programs in place but need more resources