CFPB finalizes policy that gives companies a private channel to seek approvals of untested new products and a promise that the CFPB will not take action for consumer protection law violations
On September 10, 2019, 17 civil rights, consumer and housing advocacy organizations sent a letter to the CFPB addressing QM and urging the Bureau to take additional steps to preserve access to affordable homeownership with adequate consumer protections in place.
On September 9, 2019, 34 organizations sent a letter in support of the Overdraft Protection Act of 2019.
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.
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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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.
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.
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.