Enfoque Newsletter

Enfoque is a Spanish information service of CRL's Latino Affairs. All the content is in Spanish; the hyperlinks throughout the document land on the original sources on our website or mostly English pages. No 1 | Vol VIII | 2017 No 1 | Vol VII | 2016 No 1 | Vol VI | 2015 No 1 | Vol V |...

Portland Radio Station Interviews CRL Expert on Forced Arbitration Clauses

During their evening news, Portland’s KBOO interviewed CRL Senior Policy Counsel Melissa Stegman on forced arbitration clauses. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued a rule that prohibits financial contracts from forcing consumers into arbitration and blocking consumers from pursuing a class action suit against the company. Powerful Members of Congress are fast-tracking legislation to repeal the rule – which...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Field Hearing: Limit Payday Loan Debt Trap

On March 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offered a first look at proposals under consideration to curb the payday loan debt trap. The consumer agency released information outlining their deliberations at a field hearing in Richmond, VA – at which the agency also heard from a panel of consumer and civil rights advocates, as well as payday industry representatives...

Initial Analysis of CFPB’s Proposed Rule to Address Payday & Car Title Loans

The proposed rule takes the right general approach by establishing an ability-to-repay principle – including consideration of income and expenses – at its core. This is extremely significant; while a long-standing tenet of responsible lending, it is one ignored by these abusive industries driven by unaffordable loans. It is a particularly important standard for high-cost loans where lenders have the...

Debt Buyer Lawsuits Expected to Drain Over $7 Million from Mainers, including $1.4 Million through Wage Garnishment

Debt buyers purchase old debts from creditors for pennies on the dollar and then hire debt collectors or attorneys to force consumers to pay up, often by suing them in court. Recent enforcement actions by state and federal regulators show widespread abuse and improper lawsuits brought to try to collect the old debt. Abuses include things like robo-signing affidavits in...

Response to House Financial Services Committee Report on the CFPB and Indirect Auto Lending

CRL responded to the House Financial Services Committee report on the CFPB and Indirect Auto Lending. We address this response in a letter to House Financial Services Chairman Hensarling and Ranking Member Waters dated and sent on 12/9/15. In the HFSC Report, several assertions are made about indirect auto lending, including arguments opposing CFPB data methodology and an argument that...

2014 HMDA Data Show That Federal Rules Did Not Have A Chilling Effect On Lending, Despite Lender Predictions

The 2014 mortgage data submitted by lenders under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reflects a slowly recovering mortgage market, but one that troublingly continues to under-serve important market segments. The implementation of federal mortgage underwriting standards (known as Ability-to-Repay or "ATR" and the Qualified Mortgage rule or "QM") in early 2014 did not cause a departure from mortgage lending...

The Buckeye Burden: An Analysis of Payday and Car Title Lending in Ohio

This brief analyzes the payday and car title loan market in Ohio, where millions of dollars are drained out of low-income Ohioans' pockets and communities in the form of predatory loan fees. Key findings include: There are 836 storefronts in Ohio that make payday or car title loans, the majority of which (59%) offer both forms of high-cost loans. Payday...

Road to Nowhere: Car Dealer Interest Rate Markups Lead to Higher Interest Rates, Not Discounts

For the vast majority of car loan borrowers, car dealer interest rate mark ups make their loans unnecessarily more expensive than if a flat fee compensation system were in place. This is the finding of a review of recent industry data by the Center for Responsible Lending. In a recent study, Charles River Associates suggested that if the CFPB required...

Financial Reform Conference: Sensible Standards and Accountability are Crucial for Home Loans

Today's financial troubles were triggered by a massive failure of home loans—a foreclosure epidemic that will continue to cost all homeowners billions of dollars each year. To avoid repeating this crisis, the final financial reform legislation must include three major elements: Better lending standards: Both the House and Senate bills (H.R. 4173 and S. 3217, respectively) include crucial minimum mortgage...