admin, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Private Equity Cashes In On Payday Lending

“[I]t is a telling sign of just how dysfunctional the American economy has become that some of the nation’s biggest private equity firms are now heavily invested in the payday loan business and its slightly more respectable cousin, subprime installment lending. A new report from Americans for Financial Reform and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project details dozens of such arrangements involving some of the biggest names on Wall Street and the scuzziest operations on Main Street.”

Letter to Congress: AFR Opposes Multiple Deregulatory Bills Under Consideration by Financial Services Committee

AFR sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee opposing multiple bills that would deregulate big banks and strip away investor protections. AFR Letter Re HFSC 12-12 Markup

Letter to Congress: Reject H.R. 4508, a bill that favors corporations that abuse federal aid over students

The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act should be a real opportunity to help students; instead, the PROSPER Act makes their lives worse in nearly every aspect. It raises repayment costs for struggling borrowers, lets institutions that scam students off the hook, and narrows relief for defrauded students.

AFR in the news: House bill turns its back on students to favor corporations that abuse the federal financial aid system (NBC THINK)

“Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-Va., the chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, introduced a bill last week that sells out students to corporate interests ready to get rich off taxpayer-backed education dollars. A bill reauthorizing the Higher Education Act should be a real opportunity to help students; this one just makes their lives worse by raising repayment costs for struggling borrowers, letting institutions that scam students off the hook, and narrowing relief for defrauded students.”

Testimony: AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley Testifies to HFSC On Deregulatory Bills

AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley testified to the Financial Institutions subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee on five pieces of proposed legislation. Written Testimony: Marcus Stanley Testimony To House Financial Services FI Subcommittee December 7 2017 FINAL The full hearing is available here: https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=402730

Testimony: AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley Testifies to Maryland Financial Regulatory Commission

AFR policy director Marcus Stanley testified to the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission on progress in financial regulation Testimony Before Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission — Marcus Stanley AGENDA and VIDEO (See December 5th Meeting): http://dls.maryland.gov/policy-areas/maryland-financial-consumer-protection-commission

Letter To Congress: Reject S 2155 — A Gift to Bank Lobbyists

AFR sent a letter urging Senators to reject S 2155, which contains some two dozen deregulatory gifts to bank lobbyists and only minimal consumer benefits AFR Opposition Letter to S 2155

Joint Letter: More than 50 Organizations Oppose “Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act”

“This bill would undermine already vulnerable homeowners by stripping away protections created by Congress and implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). These protections were put in place for a reason: to give manufactured-homeowners the same protections as traditional homeowners.”

AFR Statement: House Bill to Reauthorize the Higher Education Act opens the floodgates to waste, fraud, and abuse

Today, Rep. Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, introduced a bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) that includes language that opens the floodgates to waste, fraud, and abuse by for-profit colleges.

AFR Statement: Congressional Move Is a Sellout to Payday Loansharks

“Attempts to roll back this protection for consumers are nothing more than a sellout to the predatory payday lenders who want to continue to enrich themselves by trapping people in a painful cycle of debt. Congress should reject this and other attempts by payday lenders to undo a common sense rule based on the common sense principle of ability to repay.”