Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts and their debt collector, Transworld Systems, Inc. together filed more than 2,000 illegal student loan debt collection lawsuits between 2001 and 2007. The actions were violations of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act. Specifically, the lawsuits filed lacked required documentation and included both false and misleading affidavits. Many of the lawsuits pursued debts the trusts could not prove were owed. Additionally at least another 486

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) released a bipartisan poll that finds voters across the country overwhelmingly support policies that allow student loan borrowers to refinance their loans (91% in favor), enroll into affordable payment options based on income (90% in favor), and have their debt forgiven after 10 years of payments if they work in qualifying public service jobs or non-profit organizations (70% in favor). The poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting, and it was part of a

S. 1642 & H.R. 3299 enable out-of-state lenders to use "rent-a-bank" scheme to preempt state interest rate caps WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and more than 150 national and state organizations sent a letter urging Members of Congress to reject S. 1642 and H.R. 3299, the Protecting Consumers’ Access to Credit Act of 2017, (PDF) a bill that poses serious risks of enabling a vast expansion of predatory lending across the country. Specifically, the legislation makes it easier for payday lenders and other nonbanks to use

Urges Congress to Immediately Pass the Dream Act WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is appalled at the Trump administration's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in six months. With this action, the administration manufactures an unnecessary humanitarian and economic crisis for immigrant youth, their families, and the communities where they live. CRL joined 185 civil and human rights groups in sending a letter to Congress to urge lawmakers "to immediately pass the Dream Act without amendment so that young people who were brought to

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently announced that the Department will stop working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in oversight cases of student loan fraud. The partnership to share information between the two federal agencies had been in place since 2011 and has been responsible for providing students with relief after being defrauded by higher education institutions and bad student loan servicing practices. The decision to end this partnership will severely reduce oversight of the industry and hold it less accountable to the public

Fed Chair Yellen, Vice Chair Fischer, FDIC Chair Gruenberg, and European Center Bank President Draghi Defend Safeguards Enacted After Financial Crisis WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) highlighted that central bank leaders and the Chair of the FDIC have recently sounded the alarm over proposals to eliminate regulatory safeguards established after the financial crisis and refuted the claim that these protections have been a significant drag on economic growth and lending. The House of Representatives has already passed legislation that would roll back the Dodd

Roberts v. Capital One Financial Corporation alleges bank misled customers; Capital One’s practice of multiplying overdraft fees harms low-income customers, drives people from banking system WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and New Economy Project filed an amicus brief in Roberts v. Capital One Financial Corporation, in support of the plaintiff, Tawanna M. Roberts, against Capital One’s misleading overdraft fee practice. In the brief, submitted earlier this month, the group urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

New CFPB rule would restore Americans’ right to take banks to court WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in oral arguments before a federal appeals court, Wells Fargo will try to again stop consumers in 49 states from banding together in a lawsuit that challenges overdraft fee practices, which a California court concluded were “unfair and fraudulent.” Wells Fargo will try to use its forced arbitration clause, buried in the fine print of customer contracts, to prevent consumers from having their day in court. The case comes as a recent arbitration rule released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A recent resolution reached between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and American Express will cure the harms previously caused to consumers residing in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories. Under the agreement, American Express agreed to compensate consumers who were harmed by unequal and inferior credit card terms that occurred in these U.S. territories, compared to credit they would have received in the continental United States. Higher interest rates, stricter credit cutoffs, and less debt forgiveness harmed more than 200,000

Gainful Employment Rule Should Focus on Students, Not Institutions WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would loosen regulatory standards affecting for-profit colleges and other career education programs. Failing institutions will now have until February 2018 to submit alternate earnings appeals and until October 2017 to submit an intent to appeal. Further, in submitting appeals, these institutions also will no longer be required to meet threshold response rates for graduate survey participants or ensure that any state data used is representative of the