Press Releases

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized their rule this week to make prepaid cards safer. The rule includes many important provisions, such as requiring that the Electronic Funds Transfer Act protections apply to error resolutions, lost cards, and unauthorized transactions, and the rule finalizes a new "Know Before You Owe" disclosures for prepaid accounts to give consumers clear, upfront information about fees and other key details. Though the rule includes valuable improvements to protect users who borrow beyond the balance of their card--such as requiring prepaid companies

Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) released a policy analysis based on new mortgage data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The data, which covers nearly all mortgages made in the United States in 2015, revealed that access to mortgage credit remains out of reach for many consumers of color. Despite fair lending laws and mortgage rules, Hispanic and African-American consumers received a small percentage of the mortgages made in 2015 and remain disproportionately reliant upon government-backed mortgages that come with high rates and fees. Very few conventional

New Law Helps Prevent Unnecessary Foreclosures Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) applauded California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. for signing into law SB 1150, the Homeowner Survivor Bill of Rights, a bill to protect widowed spouses and other heirs from unnecessary foreclosures. Through the legislation, when the sole borrower listed on a mortgage passes away, it entitles widows, widowers, domestic partners, heirs, siblings, and other survivors to information and communication from the mortgage servicer, and it provides them the right to seek a loan assumption and modification if

On September 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) levied a $9 million fine against TitleMax parent company TMX Finance LLC for failure to tell consumers the terms and costs of auto-title loans sold over a 5-year period, beginning in 2011. The lender was also charged with illegally exposing consumers' personal information to their employers and references. Offering auto-title and personal loans at 1,300 stores in 18 states, TMX is barred from making in-person visits to collect debts and encouraging customers to take longer time to pay a 30-day loan. CRL's Delvin Davis, a senior

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) lauds the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to terminate federal recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). This action will prevent schools accredited by ACICS from participating in federal financial aid programs. Approximately 550,000 students are currently enrolled in schools accredited by ACICS. Many of these students are enrolled at for-profit colleges and universities. Two for-profit institutions, Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Education Services were both closed as a result of weak

Groups Call for More Robust Documentation Standards to Ensure Debt Collectors Can Prove a Debt Is Owed A coalition of 59 national and state organizations, led by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), Consumers Union, Americans for Financial Reform, and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) sent a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray urging the Bureau to strengthen its proposed outline to rein in abusive debt collection practices. The coalition, made up of consumer, civil rights, and legal services advocates, highlighted their concerns

Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) welcomed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's action against Bridgepoint Education, Inc., a for-profit college chain based in San Diego, Calif., for deliberately misleading students into taking out private education loans that cost more than advertised. Under the action, CFPB is ordering Bridgepoint to discharge any and all outstanding private loans made to its students and refund loan payments already made by borrowers. The total loan forgiveness and refund is estimated to be more than $23.5 million, and Bridgepoint is required to pay an

In an August 31 ruling, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) secured a critical win in a suit against California-based payday and installment lender for “servicing and collecting full payment on loans that state-licensing and usury laws had rendered wholly or partially void or uncollectible.” In an action to enforce the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB filed the suit in 2013 against CashCall and its affiliates, which partnered with another company, WesternSky, and claimed that tribal law rather than state law applied to their loans. The federal

In response to today’s announcement that ITT Technical Educational Services, Inc. will close all of its nationwide locations, the Center for Responsible Lending’s Whitney Barkley, a policy counsel specializing in student loans made the following statement: Although ITT Tech blamed its closures on August 25 Department of Education supervisory actions, the institution was facing multiple state investigations as well as other serious signs of approaching failure. The first danger signal came when the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools found that ITT Tech was "not in

New research finds that in states without triple-digit payday loans, 90 million consumers save more than $2.2 billion each year that would have otherwise been paid to lenders. These costs savings also bring fewer long-term financial harms such as bankruptcy. The research shows that consumers in payday-free states have multiple ways to manage temporary cash shortfalls and at a fraction of the cost of payday loans. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau receives public comments on how its proposed rule could close loopholes, the new research is particularly timely. A number of strong state