Press Releases

New guidelines proposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) illuminate the abuses in banks' overdraft and payday lending practices but don't go far enough to bring lenders back in line. As a result, the OCC's proposal risks legitimizing national banks' abusive payday lending and overdraft fee practices. The "safety and soundness" that the OCC holds as...

Newly available data show CRL's initial research findings from earlier this year remain true: Since the Credit CARD Act of 2009 was passed, prices have become more transparent, with no constriction of credit and no increase in the interest rates consumers pay. See the update and original report: http://qa.crl.w.lmdagency.net/research-publication/credit-card-clarity. The updated information also provides fresh evidence that, prior to the...

A North Carolina bill that would significantly increase the interest rates of loans made by consumer finance companies like CitiFinancial and American General narrowly passed the House of Representatives yesterday evening by a vote of 61-54. The vote on House Bill 810 came despite a broad coalition opposing the effort to raise interest rates on consumer loans that included North...

Kenneth W. Edwards, Policy Counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending, presented the following remarks at a press briefing held to discuss the impact of the proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rule on consumers. Other groups participating in the conference were the Mortgage Bankers Association, Consumer Federation of America, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the National Housing Conference. Good...

Oakland, California Assembly members approved AB 1158 by an 45-14 vote today. The bill, authored by Asm. Charles Calderon (D-Montebello), would raise the payday loan amount limit from $300 to $500. Recent data from the Department of Corporations however, show that the average amount of a payday loan has actually dropped since 2009, indicating that the need for higher loans...

The latest National Delinquency Survey issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association for the first quarter shows late mortgage payments and foreclosure starts have been dropping since the end of 2009. However, when you view the bigger picture, the housing market remains shaky, with millions of homeowners still at risk of losing their home. One reason for recent improvements is that...

By their votes today to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a majority of House Financial Services Committee members showed they care little about American's wallets or our nation's economic rebound. Instead, they voted to stack the rules in favor of the same lenders and regulators who brought us the subprime mortgage crisis and national financial meltdown. Lawmakers could...

Our nation's economic upheaval is ending slowly, but some lawmakers have forgotten its lessons quickly—witness the vote today to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and other experts place much of the blame for the calamity on federal regulators who failed to protect our banking system and...

This week in Sacramento, the banking committees of both houses considered two bills designed to mitigate the effects of California's foreclosure crisis, and both failed in hearing rooms packed with supporters. Both bills, however, will be re-heard next week. Even in light of tremendous involvement from constituents, consumer advocates, labor and grassroots organizations—and on the heels of robo-signing scandals that...

Banks use scare tactics and other misleading practices to persuade consumers to opt into high-cost overdraft programs for debit card purchases, a new CRL survey finds. Even so, the survey finds, most consumers choose not to opt in. The survey results contradict claims that consumers overwhelmingly want to sign up to pay nearly $35 on average each time they overdraw...