Press Releases

President Obama is slated to discuss housing recovery and related policies on Thursday, January 8, 2015 from Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona. The Center for Responsible Lending has long been a research and policy leader on housing and mortgage policies. CRL has researched issues including access to credit, abusive mortgage lending practices, discrimination in markets, and family wealth-building. As early as 2006, CRL began calling attention to the abusive and predatory mortgage products that led to foreclosures and the financial crisis – as well as the disproportionate impact that the

On Thursday, January 8, 2015, President Obama will formally announce plans in Phoenix, AZ to reduce the cost of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration – a government agency that secures mortgages primarily for lower and moderate-income borrowers, especially families of color. The plans will: reduce FHA premiums to help make mortgages more affordable; build on successful policies that have helped lead the housing recovery; preserve sound underwriting and strong consumer protections; and continue to strengthen FHA's financial health. The combination of higher pricing for lower

The Department of Education and other regulators are currently reviewing a planned sale of 56 Corinthian campuses to ECMC Group, Inc., a federal student loan debt collector. This sale would convert the Corinthian campuses into nonprofits, exempting them from some federal regulations applying to for-profit colleges. Yesterday, the Center for Responsible Lending, along with 49 other consumer, civil rights, labor, military, and education groups, called on federal regulators to ensure that any sale of the troubled for-profit Corinthian Colleges include significant relief for harmed students, as

At a press conference today in front of a payday lending store in downtown San Jose, Representative Zoe Lofgren, Emmett Carson, the CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Kyra Kazantzis of the Coalition Against Payday Predators (CAPP) warned consumers not to be grinched by payday lenders during the holiday season. Each spoke at the event about the harm caused to borrowers and in California communities by payday lending, alternatives for consumers and efforts to rein in payday lending abuses and end the "debt trap." Graciela Aponte, California External Relations Director for the Center

Today, at a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) field hearing in Oklahoma City, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Policy Counsel Lisa Stifler detailed growing abuses in medical debt collection that can take advantage of financially-distressed consumers and unfairly strip families of wealth. At the hearing, the CFPB released a report showing 43 million Americans have medical debt and announced that it would require consumer credit reporting agencies to regularly report on consumer disputes. Stifler released the following statement: "The fact that the CFPB receives more complaints

Gary Kalman, executive vice president at the Center for Responsible Lending, offers the following remarks: All Americans agree that taking advantage of the men and women who serve our nation violates our nation's fundamental values. Today, 40 US Senators have given voice to this value by supporting the Department of Defense's decision to strengthen the Military Lending Act. In a letter addressed to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, these Senators urge the decorated veteran to extend consumer protections for active duty service members and protect military families from the devastation caused by

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection hosted a field hearing in Wilmington, DE to discuss proposed regulations for prepaid cards – including how overdraft fees and other credit features should be handled on these prepaid products. Maura Dundon of the Center for Responsible Lending offered the following remarks: The CFPB's proposed rule on prepaid cards, announced at a Wilmington field hearing last week, suggests a number of critical protections that will better protect consumers who use these products. Importantly, the proposed rule would require CARD Act protections – enhanced

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Citing biblical prohibitions against unjust lending, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Baptist Convention USA, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and clergy from over 20 states will join together at Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, D.C. to call for strong federal regulation against predatory payday lending. The assembly will mark the end of a three-day visit to the nation's capital, during which the faith and community leaders will meet with members of Congress to urge policymakers to take

On Veterans Day, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth will send a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, urging him to extend consumer protections for active duty service men and women. Ken Edwards, vice president of federal affairs at the Center for Responsible Lending, comments on Rep. Duckworth's push to protect service members: All Americans agree that taking advantage of service men and women violates our nation's fundamental values. This is why Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth – the decorated US Army and Iraq War veteran – calls on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to extend consumer

As the nation marks Veterans Day tomorrow, leaders from Center for Responsible Lending and the California Reinvestment Coalition are urging California state legislators and the state's members of Congress to follow the lead of the Department of Defense and honor veterans by passing legislation reining in abusive payday lending. The Department of Defense recently issued new proposed rules to update enforcement of the Military Lending Act. The proposed rules would enhance existing protections capping interest on loans to active duty members of the military at 36% annual interest. With more than