Press Releases

"Survey also reveals that one in five Americans have been contacted by a debt collector in the past twelve months, including higher numbers in communities of color, among lower-income people, and military families." WASHINGTON, D.C. - Strong majorities across parties oppose the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) proposed debt collection rule including medical debt, according to a new poll released...

CFPB finalizes policy that gives companies a private channel to seek approvals of untested new products and a promise that the CFPB will not take action for consumer protection law violations WASHINGTON D.C. — Consumer advocates criticized today’s announcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that it has finalized policies to give banks, fintech companies, and other corporations no-action letters...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Senior Policy Counsel Ashley Harrington testified before the full House Financial Services Committee for hearing entitled A $1.5 Trillion Crisis: Protecting Student Borrowers and Holding Student Loan Servicers Accountable. In her remarks, Harrington discussed the need to rein in the abusive practices of the student loan servicing industry and urged members...

WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, in response to a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Housing Finance Reform, the U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development released recommendations for reform of the nation’s housing finance system. The National Urban League, Center for Responsible Lending, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced her new Borrower Defense to Repayment rule. These final rules will severely weaken accountability for for-profit colleges and prevent defrauded students from accessing relief. The new rules arrive more than a year after DeVos’ decision to rescind the Obama Administration’s Borrower Defense to Repayment rule, which provided...

Navient Claims It Doesn’t Have to Follow State Laws WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), the Pennsylvania SeniorLAW Center, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, New Jersey Citizen Action, and the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia filed an amicus brief today in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in...

OAKLAND, CALIF. – Two annual reports released this month by the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) reveal that predatory lenders are still reaping millions of dollars by trapping Californians in unaffordable debt. The DBO reports focus on payday and installment lender activity data from 2018. Lending data shows that the majority--55 percent--of loans being made in the $2,500 to...

Policies Should Prioritize Quality and Accountability, Not Allow Unmanageable Debt to Weigh Down Families and NC Economy DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – In a comprehensive analysis of North Carolina-specific data, a Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) report released today paints a picture of a deepening student debt crisis that is distressing many communities, delaying home purchases and the creation of small...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger announced the appointment of Robert G. Cameron to serve as the Bureau’s private education loan ombudsman. Cameron most recently worked as a high-ranking official at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), a student loan servicer that has been cited for mishandling payments and forgiveness programs for public...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released new rules that drastically expand the criteria that determines whether an immigrant is likely to become a “public charge” and therefore be denied a green card or legal status in the United States. Among the new policy’s provisions, DHS is now requiring immigrants to provide their credit score and...