“The OCC proposal is nothing more than a plan for unleashing predatory lenders to peddle dangerous financial products nationwide by eviscerating the power of state usury laws.”
AFR joins the Civil Rights Movement and the nation in mourning the passing of John Lewis. We celebrate his leadership, his outsized contributions to the struggle for racial and economic justice – until the very end of his life – and his steadfastness in demanding and defending a more robust democracy. His work as a legislator with a strong moral compass advanced all these strands of work and highlighted the relationship between them all.
Now that Wall Street is reporting earnings for a quarter that took place entirely during the coronavirus pandemic, it is clear that the Federal Reserve has bailed out the bankers quite effectively. Workers, families, small businesses, states, and municipalities have not fared nearly as well.
States and localities provide critical public services, and more than 1.5 million state and local jobs have been lost since February. Without credit support like that which should be provided by this Facility, deeper job losses and service cuts can be expected as states grapple with unprecedented fiscal challenges in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Supporting states and localities is critical for economic recovery and for assisting communities impacted by the dual public health and economic crisis we face.
The following organizations have made this important information available in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Bangla and English: AFR Language Access Task Force, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Action, Empire Justice Center, National CAPACD, National Consumer Law Center, National Fair Housing Alliance, and UnidosUS.
The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathleen Kraninger, today announced the agency will strip out the core of a rule written and finalized under previous leadership that would shield consumers from debt trap payday and car-title loans. The decision will leave millions of people vulnerable to grave financial abuses at a time of economic crisis, and will harm people of color who are suffering higher rates of illness and of unemployment, and whom this industry targeted even before the pandemic.
Uplifting Our Local Communities Act would expand access to CARES Act funding to state and local governments
We write to express our concern with the Proposed Rule to establish terms and conditions governing deposit insurance applications, changes in control, and mergers involving ILCs
Lisa Donner, executive director of AFR-EF spoke at a conference hosted by the Brookings Institution and the Center on Finance, Law & Policy at the University of Michigan dedicated to the landmark Dodd-Frank law, its impact on systemic risk and consumer protection, and the response to the COVID-19 crisis in both domestic and global contexts.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the initial composition of the index they will be using to purchase corporate bonds through its Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF). The corporations included in their June 5 “Broad Market Index” raise serious concerns about public benefit, solvency, and further incentivizing companies to take on additional debt unnecessarily.