Research

Detailed summary of provisions in Title XIV: "Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act" Subtitles A-C: Mortgage Originations Contents: Timeline Key Definitions & Concepts "Qualified mortgage" "Residential mortgage loan" "Mortgage originator" Origination standards – originators (Subtitle A) Duty of care Originator compensation (including yield spread premiums) Steering Origination standards – loans (Subtitle B) Ability to Repay Prepayment penalties Other minimum standards Additional Disclosures TIL Remedies – general amendments HOEPA – High cost loans (Subtitle C) Definition of "high cost...

Payday lenders survive by keeping customers caught in long-term debt, and before 2007, members of the American military service were not off-limits. In fact, payday loan stores clustered around bases, promising quick cash to military families in need, who, when they borrowed from a payday lender more often than not ended up caught in debt at triple-digit interest. Congress acted to protect military families from this predation by including a measure in the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 that prohibits payday and title lenders from charging higher than 36 percent APR. The lawmakers were...

This color-coded map of payday stores by household reveals a disturbing pattern. Southern states are among the most targeted for these high-cost, low-dollar loans.

The Center for Responsible Lender added its signature to a letter from national consumer organizations asking the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to adopt stricter overdraft guidelines. Practices that need to be addressed include enrolling customers in fee-based overdraft when they qualify for much lower-cost coverage, charging excessive fees in amount and frequency, re-ordering transactions to maximize fees and deceptive solicitations.

Credit card offers have grown increasingly complicated since 2000, when Congress required issuers to start disclosing pricing information on credit card offers. But instead of providing clarity to consumers about the true cost of their credit cards, issuers responded to this mandate by adding a confusing array of numbers to their offers, new CRL research finds. Specifically, CRL's research finds that numbers in credit card direct-mail offers increased 250% from 1999 to 2009, and at the peak in early 2009 the average credit card summary contained 33 figures. Much of the increased complexity in...

As a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006, the United States Senate asked the Department of Defense to conduct a study on the impact of predatory lending on their troops, and to report on their findings in 180 days. The Department of Defense (DoD) report, "Report on Predatory Lending Practices Directed at Members of the Armed Forces and Their Dependents," estimated that 17 percent of military personnel used payday loans, and states in a summary passage that: "Predatory lending undermines military readiness, harms the morale of troops and their families, and...

Read the full report >> States can stabilize the housing market by preventing unnecessary foreclosures. With the foreclosure crisis in the headlines for over two years now, it is easy to assume that it must be nearing the end. Unfortunately, this crisis is far from over. To date, 2.5 million homeowners have already lost their homes and another 5.7 million are at imminent risk of foreclosure. [1] Looking ahead, independent analysts have projected that between 10 and 13 million foreclosures will have occurred by the time the crisis abates. [2] The reality is that many of these foreclosures can...

"Rampant, Pervasive Fraud" Maryland's AG, Doug Gansler, gives a quick overview of the national mortgage settlement, noting that "this is just a down payment by the national banks," not the end of the story. As foreclosures mounted in recent years, the mortgage servicing industry often responded with illegal shortcuts, illegal fees and incompetent management. The situation became so bad that our nation's attorneys general (AGs) joined forces with federal agencies to take action against "robo-signing" and other loan servicing abuses by the nation's largest banks. The result is a legal settlement...

An overview of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, focusing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and mortgage lending provisions. Prepared by Chris Kukla, CRL's Senior Counsel for Government Affairs.

Borrowers of color have a higher share of foreclosures and less access to credit. In many ways, this year's 2009 mortgage data submitted by lenders under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) contained few surprises. As expected, the 2009 results reflect the general downturn in the housing market. And, because of the severe tightening of mortgage capital among the GSEs and private lenders, over half of the home loans made were supported by government agencies, such as the FHA and VA. However, the latest HMDA report reveals far-reaching and highly disturbing mortgage trends for people of...