Press Releases

Car dealers often target consumers with poor or no credit for yo-yo scams, a new CRL report demonstrates. "Yo-yo scams occur when a dealer leads a car buyer to believe financing is final," says CRL senior researcher Delvin Davis, author of the report, Deal or No Deal: How Yo-Yo Scams Rig the Game against Car Buyers. "The dealer lures the consumer back to the dealership, claims the financing fell through, and then pressures the consumer to agree to a new loan at a higher interest rate." For the full report go to: http://rspnsb.li/yo-yo-scams. The report also found that dealers involved in yo-yo

Two hundred and fifty national, state and local organizations and individual advocates have asked bank regulators to stop banks from making predatory payday loans, which carry triple-digit annual interest rates of as much as 400 percent. On Wednesday, a New York consumer group presented a letter signed jointly by the groups to Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as the CFPB seeks information on checking account practices in New York City. The Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC and the OCC were sent copies of the letter this morning. The CFPB is collecting

"The foreclosure settlement announced today will help build a stronger housing market while keeping more people in their homes. But while a significant step toward fixing the foreclosure crisis, this settlement was never intended or able to provide a comprehensive remedy. Much more work is required. Despite its limitations, the settlement requires real reforms in the mortgage servicing industry to stop sloppy business practices and out-and-out fraud. It also will help stabilize housing markets and property values by giving more homeowners a chance to restructure or refinance out of

Dear Wall Street Journal: Your editorial, "Bashing Payday Lenders; Obama targets another industry that serves low-income Americans," is wrong on every point. Payday lending doesn't help low-income families; it traps them in a cycle of debt leaving them worse off. Imagine paying $90 dollars in interest each month if you carried a $300 credit card balance that you couldn't afford to pay off all at once. This is essentially how payday loans operate. Just like unfair overdraft fees and other high-cost products, it's a bad deal. Brick-and-mortar payday lenders and online lenders operate the same

Washington, D.C. --- Based on what we've heard, the settlement between major banks and states' Attorneys General (AGs), the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Justice would represent an important step forward in addressing foreclosure abuses. The settlement would include key reforms to clean up unfair mortgage servicing practices. It would also provide an important template for ways banks can use principal reduction to reduce unnecessary foreclosures and put the country back on a path to economic recovery. Not all details are available yet, and we will

As federal regulators consider setting down-payment standards on new mortgages, a new study shows such rules could push 60 percent of creditworthy borrowers into high-cost loans or out of the market altogether. A proposal by regulators to define a high-quality mortgage as one with at least a 20 percent down payment, or possibly 10 percent, would hobble a healthy segment of the housing market. While higher down payments do result in fewer defaults, the payoff is small relative to the number of creditworthy households who could be shut out of the market, the study shows. For the full study, go

The appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is welcome news. Finally, the agency can run at full speed, policing the financial marketplace to make it fairer and more competitive. Mr. Cordray begins his job with overwhelming public support: by a 5 to 1 margin that cuts across party lines, Americans want Wall Street reform and a strong CFPB. By providing sensible oversight of both bank and non-bank financial firms, and promoting sounder choices in consumer financial products, the CFPB will help restore our economy and prevent another meltdown. For

North Carolina has been – and I hope will continue to be – a leader in finding effective solutions to predatory lending. Over the past decade, our lawmakers struck an effective balance between strong financial markets and fair consumer protections, enacting laws that are now models for other states and Congress. In the area of housing, North Carolina has often been in the forefront. Our state was the first to establish protection against predatory mortgage lending. It regulated mortgage brokers and lenders, and passed laws to prevent some of the worst subprime loan abuses. And it established

Today's Department of Justice fair lending settlement with Countrywide Financial is welcome news in a housing market still reeling from the costs of rampant predatory lending. Countrywide was the largest of the rogue mortgage lenders that caused the current crisis. Regulators' lax lending rules and loose oversight allowed these bad practices to flourish. The DOJ settlement deals exclusively with Countrywide lending prior to the time it was acquired by Bank of America. The acquisition has been good for borrowers and the country because it took a bad actor off the street. But it has been a

By a vote of 53-45 today, Senators failed to confirm Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now there's a clear record of who wants a return to the policies that sparked the financial crisis and taxpayer bailouts, and who wants reforms to make sure this never happens again. For more information: Kathleen Day at (202) 349-1871 or kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org; Ginna Green at (510) 379-5513 or ginna.green@responsiblelending.org;