The AFR Education Fund sent a statement for the record to the House Financial Services Committee concerning Facebook’s proposal for the Libra digital token and payment system. The statement describes ways in which Facebook is attempting to create an unregulated financial product of potentially global scale and the dangers this would pose to the users of the token and the broader financial system.
AFR wrote a letter to the Federal Reserve Board on a proposal that would liberalize the criteria the Board uses to determine control of a bank. The definition of “control” is critical as it determines whether entities with ownership and influence over banks will be designated as bank holding companies and subject to the appropriate regulation.
Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said that there is a widespread feeling that the MSRB is dominated by insiders to a degree that is “greater than is healthy for a self regulatory organization. Reforms are called for and I’m glad that Sen. Kennedy is stepping forward to do that.”
He said he sees bipartisan interest in the bill because people have interest in federal regulation in the municipal markets.
“We’ve seen blowups in the muni markets that have really affected cities and public entities across the country,” Stanley said, referencing Detroit and Puerto Rico.
“Credit reports and credit scores play a critical role in the economic lives of Americans. They are the gatekeeper for affordable credit, insurance, rental housing, and sometimes unfortunately even a job. Yet they suffer from unacceptable rates of inaccuracy. This package would enact a sea change that would make the American credit reporting system more accurate and fairer to consumers.”
Credit reports and credit scores play a critical role in the economic lives of Americans. They are the gatekeeper for affordable credit, insurance, rental housing, and sometimes unfortunately even a job. Yet they suffer from unacceptable rates of inaccuracy. This package would enact a sea change that would make the American credit reporting system more accurate and fairer to consumers.
“We are deeply concerned that the reductions in resolution planning requirements proposed here would have an adverse effect on the financial stability of the United States and possibly also on the safety and soundness of individual banks,” Americans for Financial Reform said in its letter.
FHA mortgages play a crucial role in providing and maintaining access to affordable and sustainable homeownership for low- and moderate-income families and communities of color. If the Loan Sale Program continues in its current unregulated form, FHA borrowers and their communities remain at risk of further harm from non-compliant servicers and private equity loan purchasers. It is crucial that HUD implement strong protections both before and after loans are sold to prevent needless borrower displacement and neighborhood instability.
AFR Ed Fund and six other organizations submitted these comments in response to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on the FHA Single Family Loan Sale program. View or download pdf of the letter here.
The proposed loophole-ridden rules let investors to reap tax benefits for investments outside of the Opportunity Zones, compounding the program’s tendency to invest in booming areas that drive up housing costs and displace lower-income residents of color.
AFREF and our partners sent a letter to the CFPB urging it not to weaken the current protections in the overdraft rule.