team, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

News Release: In Evaluating TAB Bank, FDIC Should Consider Consumer Harm, Possible Legal Violations, from Predatory Lending

WASHINGTON – Today a coalition of consumer advocates filed comments with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), including a petition signed by more than 44,500 people and a letter describing hundreds of consumer complaints, urging the FDIC to consider Transportation Alliance Bank’s (TAB Bank) predatory rent-a-bank lending in assessing the bank’s performance in meeting community needs under the Community Reinvestment Act.

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Letters to the Administration: Letter Calling on President Biden to Extend the Student Loan Payment Pause

AFR joined a letter calling on President Biden to extend the payment pause on student loans until he cancels student debt.

News Release: AFR Criticizes U.S. Chamber’s Attack on CFPB

WASHINGTON-D.C. — The irony of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has numerous corporate lawbreakers among its members, complaining about a government agency busting corporate lawbreakers is almost too thick for words.

Research Memo: New AFR Research Estimating Minimum Number of Private Equity-Owned Housing Units

Private equity firms have become some of the country’s biggest corporate landlords. Americans for Financial Reform estimated that as of June 2022, at a minimum, private equity firms owned real estate rented by around 1.6 million families.

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Letters to Congress: Repeal Taxation of Pell Grants

AFR joined a letter to Congress in support of repealing taxation of Pell Grants.

Statement: AFR Condemns Overturning of Roe v. Wade

A decades-long campaign to overturn Roe vs. Wade has succeeded thanks to a hard-right turn by a Supreme Court packed with justices appointed by President Trump. The right to abortion is more than a medical procedure. Reproductive freedom is an element of economic justice, and the restrictions and bans that are not long in coming will surely fall hardest on Black and Brown communities. Congress needs to act quickly to secure this right.

News Release: Bank, Credit Union and Consumer Groups Support Committee Vote to Close the Industrial Loan Company Loophole

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services convened today to mark up a series of proposed laws, including a bill to close the industrial loan company (ILC) loophole. The ILC loophole allows Big Tech and other nonbank companies to offer financial products and services without complying with the safeguards and oversights required of bank holding companies.

In The News: The Ferocious, Well-Heeled Battle Against the SEC’s New Rules on Hedge Fund Activism

“You’re closing a profitable loophole, so there’s no surprise that we’re seeing the type of pushback that we see right now,” says Andrew Park, a senior policy analyst at investor advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform who was recently named to the SEC’s investor advisory committee

News Release: Organizations Garner Over 60,000 Signatures Urging SEC to Strengthen Climate Risk Disclosure Rule as Comment Period Closes

Over 60,000 people support strong climate disclosure rules proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and over 10,000 individual comments were submitted during the public input period, which closes today.

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Letters to Regulators: Follow Up Comment to the SEC on Private Funds

AFREF sent a Follow Up Comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission expressing support for its proposals that would require private fund advisers to provide their investors with greater and more detailed information around the fees, expenses, returns, and bilateral investment relations (via side letters). We echo many of the comments the SEC has since received since its initial comment period and reflect how current market conditions make the Commission’s proposals especially a priority given the variation in the reporting and valuation of private market assets.