All posts by team

Blog: CFPB Takes Action on Consumer Protection Violations in the Corporate Fine Print

When consumers purchase many financial products and services they have no say over specific terms and conditions, only the choice of whether to sign or not. Yet, hidden in the fine print in virtually every contract is another grave price consumers unwittingly pay: the removal of many of their legal rights and protections. If consumers want financial services, the fine print — and the proper regulation thereof — is critically important.

News Release: Fifth Circuit’s Wall Street-Friendly Ruling A Broad Threat to SEC Disclosure Rules

By staying the private fund disclosure rule written by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Fifth Circuit has given a victory to extraordinarily wealthy predatory financiers and opened the door to undermining the agency’s basic regulatory tools. Stopping the SEC’s private funds rule, which would increase transparency and accountability in the multi-trillion-dollar private funds market, is a terrible outcome in and of itself. But the impacts of this ruling go much further.

Letters to the Regulators: Letter to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in Support of a Public Reporting Requirement

AFREF and 11 organizations submitted a comment letter to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in support of a proposal to require public accounting firms to publicly report specified firm- and engagement-level metrics. If finalized, these metrics would provide investors, audit committees, and other stakeholders critical information to compare audit firms, make better-informed decisions, and enhance auditor accountability.

News Release: Report Exposes How Real Estate Industry Maintains Housing Crisis

An intricate network of housing industry groups, often backed by corporate landlords, are actively blocking solutions that would alleviate the worst aspects of the current housing crisis and improve affordability, according to a new report. The report, from Capital Strategies for the Common Good, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Bargaining for the Common Good, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, sheds light on the money behind the political influence that has distorted the politics of housing in favor of wealthy interests. 

Report: Who is Behind the Curtain? Breaking Down Trade Associations that Fight Tenants and Hurt Housing Affordability

AFREF, in partnership with Capital Strategies for the Common Good, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, and Bargaining for the Common Good, have produced a report highlighting how, in recent decades, housing has become increasingly commodified and financialized, while tenants in communities across the country are being crushed under unsustainable rent burdens and a shortage of affordable housing.

In The News: Court Loss Leaves SEC With Tough Choices in Private-Equity Reform Push (WSJ)

“The Fifth Circuit has once again sided with Wall Street and its private-equity billionaires to block reasonable protections for both the public interest and workers saving for retirement,” said Andrew Park, a senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for tighter controls in the financial sector. “The Supreme Court needs to reverse this outrageous decision.”

News Release: Groups Call on Federal Agencies to Fight Private Equity Abuses in Health Care

Today over 90 organizations and individuals, representing patients, workers, communities; public interest advocates, and health care researchers, called on federal authorities, as part of their review of competition in health care, to take action to curb the abuses of private equity and safeguard the ability of doctors to deliver quality care to all patients and achieve equitable health outcomes.

Letters to the Regulators: Group response to Request for Information on Consolidation in Healthcare Markets

AFREF and 96 organizations and individuals concerned about the harmful impacts of transactions that affect consolidation in health care submitted comments responding to a Request For Information from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Health & Human Services, calling for action to curb the abuses of private equity and safeguard the ability of doctors to deliver quality care to all patients and achieve equitable health outcomes.

Letters to the Regulators: AFREF response to Request for Information on Consolidation in Healthcare Markets

AFREF submitted its own comment in response to a Request For Information from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Health & Human Services. The comment focuses on transactions by private equity (PE) funds which, by treating health care facilities and companies as financial instruments, have inflicted damage on health care businesses, communities, and individuals.

News Release: CFPB Database Expected to Help Curb Repeat Consumer Law Violations

A new centralized public database that catalogs violations of consumer protection laws by nonbank financial companies like payday lenders and debt collectors will aid state and federal enforcement efforts that often operate under the radar and are hard to track. The repeat misconduct registry will help remedy these regulatory blind spots and make it easier for regulatory agencies across the local, state, and federal levels to more easily spot bad actors. Members of the public, investors, creditors, business partners, and consumer advocacy organizations will also be able to more easily track financial firms subject to law enforcement orders due to repeat consumer violations.