Press Releases

On May 22, 2014, the Center for Responsible Lending, in partnership with other civil and consumer rights advocates, will host a briefing on the auto lending abuses that affect communities of color, low–wealth and the military. The briefing will take place in the House Transportation Committee room, at 2 pm. Few household transactions are as significant, or as large, as the purchase of a family car. Recently, federal regulators have shone a spotlight on potential discrimination in car lending. The discussion will focus especially on the practice of car dealer interest rate markups – where

Mike Calhoun says: Rep. Maxine Waters has presented a solid proposal on how to carefully reform the nation's housing finance system. The Home Forward Act of 2014 rightly recognizes that any reform to this market must ensure broad credit access for qualified borrowers and a level playing field among lenders of every size. The HOME Forward Act correctly structures the new system to ensure that the largest lenders do not gain unfair advantage over community lenders. The proposal provides smaller lenders a fair opportunity to compete with the biggest banks and promotes greater affordability for

A new report from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) finds that the debt buying and debt collection industries have grown rapidly in recent years – and with them, a suite of predatory and abusive collection practices that could cause consumers financial havoc. Today, one in seven Americans is being pursued by a debt collector. Despite their recent growth, the debt buying and collection industries are still largely unregulated; this allows debt buyers and collectors to take advantage of financially-distressed consumers and extract billions of dollars in judgments for debts that may not

Chris Kukla, vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, said: We are happy to see that BMO Harris Bank will no longer compensate car dealers through hidden interest rate increases. BMO Harris is ahead of its peers in ending "dealer interest rate markups," a common, virtually invisible practice that adds billions of dollars to the cost of car loans. The bank's action comes in the wake of recent enforcement actions and guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). An enforcement action against Ally Bank in December 2013 found that borrowers of color paid more for

Washington, DC – New research released today by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on payday lending affirms what CRL has long found about the inherent defects of payday lending and shows that payday loans create a debt trap that makes borrowers worse off. Among the new findings: Nearly three-fifths of monthly borrowers in the CFPB study were recipients of government benefits, including Social Security—and these borrowers were more likely to be stuck in long-term debt. "This research validates all we know about the payday debt trap," said CRL President Mike Calhoun. "The cycle of

Joint statement The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Council of La Raza, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Urban League, and Center for Responsible Lending express serious concerns, say much needs to be fixed The new Senate proposal to reform the housing finance system would needlessly make mortgages more expensive and less available, announced civil rights groups today. The goal of housing finance reform is to create a safe housing

The Department of Education's proposed "gainful employment" rule is a step forward but falls short of protecting consumers from unaffordable debt created by predatory educational programs at for-profit colleges, according to the Center for Responsible Lending."The rule, as it stands now, does not adequately protect students," said Maura Dundon, senior policy counsel at CRL. "It allows too many students to emerge from for-profit institutions with no ability to repay their loans. No career-college student should ever say that 'going to college was the worst mistake in my life' because of her

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson and Ranking Member Senator Mike Crapo announced yesterday a bipartisan agreement on a plan to reform the housing finance system. The proposal has yet to be fully unveiled. "We appreciate Senators Johnson and Crapo's attention to this critically important issue," said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending. "The mortgage market is a $10 trillion industry and any changes to it will resonate through the entire economy. This is why any change must be considered carefully." "Overhaul of the housing finance system must ensure

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) applauds Bank of America for taking another important step that prevents costly overdraft fees for consumers. "Overdraft fees have a punishing impact on financially vulnerable Americans, often ousting them from the banking system altogether," said Gary Kalman, executive vice president of CRL. "CRL commends Bank of America for offering a more responsible approach to banking." Over the last 15 years, overdraft programs have evolved from an occasional courtesy to a practice designed to extract fees from consumers. Revenue from overdraft fees doubled

Experts at the Center for Responsible Lending applauded the CFPB for their aggressive action on the for-profit university ITT Tech. According to the CFPB, "ITT exploited its students and pushed them into high-cost private student loans that were very likely to end in default. The CFPB is seeking restitution for victims, a civil fine, and an injunction against the company." This marks an important step forward in abusive lending practices against students, according to CRL senior policy counsel Maura Dundon. "Abusive lending via student loans is particularly egregious practice," said Dundon.