Letters to Congress

This letter to Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, voices CRL's strong opposition to H.R. 4508, "Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act." Prosperity and economic security are laudable and elusive goals for many Americans, and we believe the Higher Education Act should play a key role in increasing...

The Center for Responsible Lending, the Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the National Consumer Law Center released this analysis detailing their reasons for opposing S. 2155, a bill that rolls back or eliminates Dodd-Frank's protections for consumers and for economic stability.

This letter urges Congress to support the Senate and House companion bills, S. 1659/H.R. 3760, the “Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act,” sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin, Senator Jeff Merkley, Representative Matt Cartwright, and Representative Steve Cohen. The Senate and House bills would extend to all consumers a 36 percent usury APR cap. A fair rate cap will protect...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and 150 national and state organizations urge Members of Congress to reject S. 1642 and H.R. 3299, legislation that pose serious risks of enabling a vast expansion of predatory lending across the country. Specifically, the legislation makes it easier for payday lenders and other nonbanks to use rent-a...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) sent a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) rebutting the committee’s majority staff report criticizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) role in investigating Wells Fargo’s fraudulent account scheme.

Last week, calls were made to eliminate the GSE affordable housing goals as a means to move forward legislation to reform the secondary housing finance market. This misguided attempt is not new, and it would harm creditworthy borrowers who cannot access the mortgage credit they deserve, deny them their chance at the American Dream of homeownership, and weaken our nation’s...

This proposal was created by the undersigned consumer and civil rights groups in response to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’ (Banking Committee) request for proposals to foster economic growth. The proposals revolve around 1) promoting responsible, sustainable homeownership and other responsible lending products for borrowers from low-and moderate income (LMI) households, communities of color...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) opposition letter details the many dangerous aspects of the bill.

The OIRA Insight, Reform, and Accountability Act is portrayed as a mere codification of previous Executive Orders, but in fact it further undermines the rulemaking process. It would codify the numerous burdensome requirements contained in the orders– many of which are biased against protecting the public, vague, and in some cases mutually inconsistent — and would have the disastrous effect...

H.R. 998 would establish a new bureaucracy empowered to dismantle long-established science-based public health and safety standards and would make it significantly more difficult for Congress and federal agencies to implement essential future protections. Along with previous bills that have passed the House and the President’s Executive Orders instituting a regulatory freeze and requiring the removal of two rules for...