Letters to Congress

From the letter to Secretary Mnuchin: The undersigned civil rights, faith, and community development organizations write to seek that you direct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to designate that Community Financial institutions (CFIs) receive one-third of the $30 billion set aside for three groups of lenders—CFIs, small insured depository institutions, and credit unions—pursuant to H.R. 266, the Paycheck Protection Program...

From the letter to Congressional leadership: The undersigned consumer and banking industry organizations write to urge Congress at the soonest possible opportunity to clarify that economic impact payments responding to this public health emergency are exempt from otherwise legally binding garnishment orders. Our organizations have worked together to address this issue and we believe that is possible to protect American...

While we applaud that quick action for student loan borrowers, we are concerned that this unprecedented crisis is affecting many borrowers who have Perkins loans or Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that are not federally owned and who are not covered under the CARES Act. We respectfully request that you take action to enact, as part of your...

A diverse coalition of community organizations signed on to this letter to Congress urging them to protect Americans from price gouging during this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, by enacting a 36% APR cap on all loans. Congress should amend the Military Lending Act (MLA) to extend to ALL consumers the credit protections provided to members of the Armed Forces and their...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) joined with 26 national civil rights, consumer, housing and labor groups, and 35 state groups in sending a letter to Congress with specific financial policy proposals that help address the needs of families most at risk from the impending economic collapse. A PDF of the letter is included above.

A coalition of 61 consumer, civil rights, and community groups sent letters to three federal bank regulators urging them not to allow their banks to help payday lenders evade state interest rate limits. The groups sent separate letters to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which regulates the only banks currently involved in rent-a-bank schemes; the Office of the Comptroller...

From the letter to the director of the National Economic Council, Lawrence Kudlow: As you consider proposals to restructure our nation’s housing finance system as required by the March 2019 Presidential Memorandum,1 the undersigned civil rights organizations write to express our collective view that any effort to comprehensively reform Government Sponsored Entities (GSEs)—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—must recognize the importance...

Consumer watchdog groups urged the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to take action immediately to implement the payment provisions in its payday lending rule, whose compliance date is August 19, 2019. These provisions restrict payday and vehicle-title lenders from attempting to withdraw money from borrowers’ bank accounts after two attempts have failed, a practice that significantly harms struggling consumers...

Student loan borrowers of color disproportionately bear the brunt of America’s student debt crisis, and sadly, the extraordinary levels of delinquency and default across these communities is preventable. The most vulnerable student loan borrowers have a right under federal law to make affordable student loan payments—a powerful protection that should make student loan defaults extremely rare. However, mounting evidence shows...

The Center for Responsible Lending1 (CRL) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on principles for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). We commend your dedication to reauthorizing the Higher Education Act with the intention of achieving an affordable, accountable, accessible and equitable and safer higher education system. We hope that you will continue to push for a Higher...