ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES

AUTO LOANS

• Letter opposing HR 1737 (CRL, July 2015)
• Editorial (NY Times, June 2015)
• Civil Rights Leaders’ letter (CRL, November 2014)
• Racial Disparities in Auto Loan Markups State-by-State (NCLC, June 2015)
• Facts are Facts: Auto Dealer Interest Rate Markups Cost Consumers (Center for Responsible Lending, May 2015)
• Reckless Driving: Implications of Subprime Auto Finance Growth (Center for Responsible Lending, January 2015)
• Deal or No Deal: How Yo-Yo Scams Rig the Game against Car Buyers (Center for Responsible Lending, April 2014)
• Joint Letter of Support for CFPB Auto lending Guidance (Jan 2014)
• Non-Negotiable: Negotiation Doesn’t Help African Americans and Latinos on Dealer-Financed Car Loans (Center for Responsible Lending, Jan 2014)
• California Poll on Auto Lending (CARS, Oct 2013)
• Driven to Disaster: Car-Title Lending and Its Impact on Consumers (Center For Responsible Lending, Feb 2013)
• CFPB Auto Lending Guidance (Mar 2013)
• The State of Lending: Auto Loans (Center for Responsible Lending, Dec 2012)
• Letter to FTC on the State of Auto Lending (Center For Responsible Lending, Feb 2012)
• Summary of Ally Bank Settlement over Loan Discrimination (AFR, Feb 2014)

BANK ACCOUNTS AND FEES

• Introduction to Account Screening (NCLC, October 2014)
• Overdraft Fees at Banks Hit a High, Despite Curbs (Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2014)
• Big Data Means Big Opportunities and Big Challenges (US PIRG, March, 2014)
• Big Banks, Big Complaints: CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database Gets Real Results for Consumers (US PIRG, September 2013)
• High-Cost Overdraft Practices (Center for Responsible Lending, July 2013)
• CFPB Study of Overdraft Programs (CFPB, June 2012)
• Down in the Valley: Financial Neglect in Rural California (California Reinvestment Coalition June 2013)
• Checks and Balances: Measuring Checking Accounts’ Safety and Transparency (Pew, May 2013)
• Restoring the Wisdom of the Common Law: Applying the Historical Rule Against Contractual Penalty Damages to Bank Overdraft Fees (NCLC, April 2013)
• Big Banks, Bigger Fees: A National Survey of Fees and Disclosure Compliance (U.S. PIRG, November 2012)
• Checking Out: How Big Banks Are Pushing Consumers Out of Basic Bank Accounts (California Reinvestment Coalition, September 2012)
• Pew Checking Account Policy Recommendation Fact Sheets (Pew, September 2012)
• Comments to CFPB on Overdraft Practices (Center for Responsible Lending, July 6, 2012)
• Still Risky: An Update on the Safety and Transparency of Checking Accounts (Pew, June 2012)
• Overdraft America: Confusion and Concerns about Bank Practices (Pew, May 2012)
• Trapped at the Bank: Removing Obstacles To Consumer Choice In Banking (Consumers Union, May 2012)
• The Campus Debit Card Trap: Are Bank Partnerships Fair to Students? (U.S. PIRG, May 2012)
• Mobile Pay or Mobile Mess: Closing the Gap Between Mobile Payment Systems and Consumer Protections (Consumers Union, June 2011)
• Better Overdraft Policies put Money Back in Consumers’ Pockets (Center for Responsible Lending, June 23, 2011)
• Banks Collect Overdraft Opt-Ins through Misleading Marketing (Center for Responsible Lending, April 26, 2011)

CREDIT CARDS

• The Debt Disparity: What Drives Credit Card Debt in America (Demos, May 2014)
• Where Did All the Credit Card Gotchas Go? Hard To Find Those Hidden Fees Now (Bob Sullivan, bobsullivan.net, 3/3/14)
• Credit Cards, Consumer Complaints (US PIRG Education Fund, January 2013)
• CARD Act Report: A Review of the Impact of the CARD Act on the Consumer Credit Card Market (CFPB, October 2013)
• CFPB Study of Overdraft Programs (CFPB, June 2013)
• Older Americans and Credit Card Debt (Demos, January 2013)
• Credit Cards (Center For Responsible Lending, December 2012)
• College on a Credit Card (Demos, August 2012)
• Myths & Realities About the CARD Act Independent Ability to Pay Provision (NCLC, June 2012)
• The Plastic Safety Net (Demos, May 2012)
• The Credit Card Act: It’s Working (Demos)
• Predatory Credit Card Lending: Unsafe, Unsound for Consumers and Companies (Center for Responsible Lending, May 2012)
• Beyond the Credit CARD Act: Features of a Safer Credit Card (NCLC, November 2010)

CREDIT REPORTING

• Statesment by Consumer Advocates Supporting SECURE Act (National Consumer Law Center, National Association of Consumer Advocates, April 9, 2014)
• Big Data: A Disappointment for Scoring Consumer Credit Risk (March 2014)
• Big Credit Bureaus, Big Mistakes (USPIRG, November 2013)
• How Employment Credit Checks Keep Qualified Workers Out (Demos, February 2013)
• Key Dimensions and Processes in the U.S. Credit Reporting System: A Review of How the Nation’s Largest Credit Bureaus Manage Consumer Data (CFPB, December 2012)
• FTC Report on Credit Report Errors (Federal Trade Commission, December 2012)

DEBT COLLECTION

• Debt Collection Priorities for 2016 (National Consumer Law Center, March 2016)
• No Fresh Start: How States Let Debt Collectors Push Families Into Poverty (National Consumer Law Center, October 2013)
• The Debt Collection Racket in New York: How the Industry Violates Due Process and Perpetuates Economic Inequality (New Economy Project, June 2013)
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (CFPB, March 2012)
• Past Due: Why Debt Collection Practices and the Debt Buying Industry Need Reform Now (Consumers Union, January 2011)
• The Debt Machine: How the Collection industry Hounds Consumers and overwhelms Courts (NCLC, July 2010)

FORCED ARBITRATION

• Statements on CFPB announcement by Alliance for Justice, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Action, National Consumer Law Center, Public Citizen, and Senator Sherrod Brown (October 2015)
• It’s Time to End Dirty Back Rooms of Injustice (Huffington Post, November 2015)
• Fact Sheet: How Small Businesses Benefit From Class Actions (Center for Justice & Democracy, 2014)
• Rogues’ Gallery (Public Citizen)
• Announcement of CFPB Rulemaking (CFPB October 2015)
• Model State Consumer and Employee Justice Enforcement Act (National Consumer Law Center)
• Talking Points (Fair Arbitration Now)
• Lost in the Fine Print (Alliance for Justice video, 2014)
• Banking On Arbitration (Pew, November 2012)
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Courthouse Doors Shut for Aggrieved Private Student Loan Borrowers (Public Citizen, July 2012)
• Armed Forces and Forced Arbitration (Public Citizen, October 2012)

SERVICE MEMBERS

• The CFPB is Standing Up for Servicemembers and Veterans (AFR fact sheet, September 2014)
• Gaps in the Military Lending Act Leave Many Service Members Vulnerable (Consumer Federation of America, July 2013)
• The Next Front? Student Loan Servicing and the Cost to Our Men and Women in Uniform (CFPB, October 2012)
• The Military Lending Act Five Years Later (Consumer Federation Of America, May 2012)
• Armed Forces and Forced Arbitration (Public Citizen, September 2012)

MORTGAGE LOANS

• Chasm Between Words and Deeds (California Reinvestment Coalition, May 2014)
• National Mortgage Settlement: Lessons Learned (Urban Institute, April 2014)
• Joint Letter to House on CFPB Mortgage Rules (December 2013)
• Joint Letter to Senate on CFPB Mortgage Rules (December 2013)
• State Action Still Needed to Prevent Unnecessary Foreclosures (Center for Responsible Lending/Consumers Union, May 2013)
• Closing the Gaps: What States Should Do to Protect Homeowners From Foreclosure (Center for Responsible Lending/Consumers Union, April 2013)
• Unequal Opportunity: Disparate Mortgage Origination Patterns for Women in the Chicago Area (Woodstock, March 2013)
• At a Crossroads: Lessons from the Home Affordable Modification Program (NCLC, January 2013)
• Fair Lending Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB, December 2012)
• Mortgages: The State of Lending in America and Its Impact on U.S. Households (Center for Responsible Lending, December 2012)
• Collateral Damage: The Spillover Costs of Foreclosures (Center for Responsible Lending, October 2012)
• Paying More for the American Dream VI: Racial Disparities in FHA/VA Lending (Woodstock, July 2012)
• The Impact of Dodd-Frank’s Home Mortgage Reforms: Consumer Market Perspectives (Center for Responsible Lending, July 2012)
• Expanding, Streamlining Mortgage Refinances: Congress Can Help Millions of Homeowners Save Billions of Dollars (Center for Responsible Lending, June 2012)
• Fact Sheet: Negative Equity in Communities of Color in the Chicago Six County Region (Woodstock, March 2012)
• Foreclosures in New York: What’s Really Going On (NEDAP, January 2012)
  

PAYDAY AND SMALL-DOLLAR LOANS

• Senate letter (June 2015)
• House letter (June 2015)
• Florida consumer advocates’ letter (June 2015)
• Florida congressional delegation letter opposing a strong rule (May 2015)
• Payday Pay-to-Play: How High-Cost Lenders Line the Pockets of Powerful Washington Politicians (AFR, December 2014)
• Data Point: Payday Lending (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, April 2014)
• Payday Lending in America: Policy Solutions (Pew, October 2013)
• State of Lending in America” series: Non-Bank Payday (Center for Responsible Lending, September 2013)
• “State of Lending in America” series: Bank Payday (Center for Responsible Lending, September 2013)
• Car-Title lending (Center for Responsible Lending, July 2013)
• The Case for Banning Payday Lending: Snapshots from Four Key States (New Economy Project with California Reinvestment Coalition, Reinvestment Partners, and Woodstock Institute, June 2013)
• Why 36%? The History, Use, and Purpose of the 36% Interest Rate Cap (NCLC, April 2013)
• Net Economic Impact of Payday Lending in the U.S. (Center for Community Economic Development, March 2013)
• Payday Lending in America Series – Report #2: How Borrowers Choose and Repay Payday Loans (Pew, February 2013)
• A Complex Portrait: An Examination of Small-Dollar Credit Consumers (Center for Financial Services Innovation, August 2012)
• Payday Lending in America Series – Report #1: Who Borrows, Where They Borrow, and Why (Pew, July 2012)
• Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
• The Party’s Over For Quickie Tax Loans: But Traps Remain For Unwary Taxpayers (Consumer Federation of America, February 2012)

PREPAID CARDS

• Keep Prepaid Cards and Credit Separate (NCLC, July 2013)
• Prepaid Cards: How They Rate on Value, Convenience, Safety and Fee Accessibility and Clarity (Consumer Reports, July 2013)
• Imperfect Protection: Using Money Transmitter Laws to Insure Prepaid Cards (Pew, March 2013)
• Key Focus Group Findings on Prepaid Debit Cards (Pew, October 2012)
• Loaded with Uncertainty: Are Prepaid Cards a Smart Alternative to Checking Accounts (Pew, September 2012)
• Prepaid Cards: Loaded with Fees, Weak on Protections (Consumer Reports, March 2012)

STUDENT LOANS

• NCLC Letter Calling for Debt Relief for Corinthian Students (April 2015)
  Higher Ed Hustle (Miami Herald Series on For-Profit Schools in Florida, Spring 2015)
• Average Debt for 2013 Grads Tops $30k in 6 States (Institute for College Access and Success report November 2014)
• Letter to Department of Education on “Gainful Employment” Rule (Center for Responsible Lending, Feb 4, 2014)
• Statement for Massachusetts Atty. General on Proposed Regulation for For-Profit and Occupational Schools (Center for Responsible Lending, Jan 22, 2014)
• Degrees of Debt: Stories from Student Loan Borrowers Highlight Urgent Need for Reform (Consumers Union, November 2013)
• Public Service & Student Debt (CFPB, August 2013)
• At What Cost: How Student Debt Reduces Lifetime Wealth (Demos, August 2013)
• Federal Student Loan Terms for 2013-14 (TICAS, July 2013)
• Searching for Relief: Desperate Borrowers and the Growing Student Loan “Debt Relief” Industry (NCLC, June 2013)
• Borrowers on Hold: Student Loan Collection Agency Complaint Systems Need Massive Improvement (NCLC, May 2013)
• Student Loan Affordability (CFPB, May 2013)
• The True Size of the Student Debt Crisis (Demos)
• Student Loans (Center for Responsible Lending, December 2012)
• Student Debt and the Class of 2011 (TICAS, October 2012)
• Making Loans Work: How Community Colleges Support Responsible Borrowing (TICAS, August 2012)
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place Courthouse Doors Shut for Aggrieved Private Student Loan Borrowers (Public Citizen, July 2012)
• Private Student Loans (CFPB, July 2012)
• Risky Private Student Lending on the Rise Again (TICAS, December 2011)
• Critical Choices (TICAS, July 2011)