Letter to Congress: Joint Letter in Support of the Overdraft Protection Act of 2019
On September 9, 2019, 34 organizations sent a letter in support of the Overdraft Protection Act of 2019.
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Letter to Congress: AFR Letter in Support of HR 1423, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act)
On September 9, 2019, AFR submitted a letter of support for HR 1643, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act to the House Judiciary Committee.
In The News: Is The U.S. Economy Strong Enough To Withstand Another Slowdown Or Recession? (NPR)
I spoke with Carter Dougherty of the group Americans for Financial Reform … I asked him whether this kind of tinkering would necessarily lead to another financial crisis. “No. And I would not argue that. Can you argue persuasively that [actions by Trump-appointed regulators] will make the next recession more painful than it should be? That is absolutely the case.”
News Release: Regulators Deal A Fatal Blow to the Volcker Rule
“This rule would free up hundreds of billions of dollars in securities and derivatives for proprietary trading purposes, completely outside of Volcker Rule coverage and in fact with an explicit exemption from proprietary trading restrictions,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform. “By simply designating positions as not explicitly held for trading, banks could easily evade the Volcker Rule. These changes spell the end of meaningful constraints on proprietary trading at taxpayer supported banks, and another step in dismantling financial stability safeguards.”
News Release: HUD Proposing to Roll Back Civil Rights Protections in Housing
“HUD’s proposed rule makes it virtually impossible for a disparate impact claim to stand in court,” says Linda Jun, senior policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “By raising the threshold for disparate impact, the new rule creates a nearly unsurmountable bar for plaintiffs to prove discriminatory outcomes and makes it much easier for defendants to shield themselves from any responsibility for discrimination.”
News Release: CFPB Leaves Consumers Unprotected by Failing to Implement Payday Lending Rule Provisions
Consumer watchdog groups urged the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in a letter sent today to take action immediately to implement the payment provisions in its payday lending rule, whose compliance date is August 19, 2019.
News Release: AFR Education Fund Statement on Office of Financial Research Staff Working Paper on the Volcker Rule
This new paper does not contradict previous comprehensive studies finding that liquidity in the corporate bond market has been robust and has shown no signs of deterioration over the period in which the Volcker Rule was implemented. The OFR staff working paper does find evidence that banks affected by the Volcker Rule charge significantly lower markups for newly issued bonds they underwrite (that are exempt from most Volcker Rule restrictions on proprietary trading) than they do for other types of bond trades covered by the Volcker Rule.
Joint Statement: Advocates Oppose FHFA’s Decision to Remove Language Preference Question from Loan Application
The Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Language Access Task Force strongly opposes the decision announced yesterday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to remove the question about a borrower’s language preference from the revised Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA). The Task Force members include the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, the Center for Responsible Lending, Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Consumer Action, Empire Justice Center, NAACP, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), National Consumer Law Center, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, and National Fair Housing Alliance.
In the News: Consumer ‘Protector’ Is Ready To Make It Easier For Debt Collectors To Harass You (HuffPost)
“Did anyone take Internet Security 101?” says Linda Jun, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform. “I always tell my elderly parents, whatever you do, don’t click on anything! How do you know it’s legit? How do you know it isn’t a scam?”
In the News: The Workers Bearing the Brunt of Retail’s Struggles? Primarily Women and People of Color. (Vox)
Vox article quotes Heather Slavkin-Corzo, senior fellow at Americans for Financial Reform and director of capital markets policy for the AFL-CIO: “When a private equity firm steps in, it’s a classic case of ‘Heads I win, tails you lose’ … They have a real short-term focus on extracting as much cash as possible, as quickly as possible.”