“As business groups cheered [deregulation] moves, some skeptics were left questioning whether Mr. Trump was keeping his campaign promises to give working-class Americans a higher priority than Wall Street bankers. ‘From our perspective, it is a direction that is dramatically backwards on financial stability,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.’”
“Democrats have already promised to fight attempts to weaken the [CFPB’s] powers. ‘We would have a muzzled watchdog at best,’ said Brian Simmonds Marshall, policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of more than 200 civil rights, consumer- and labor-oriented community groups. ‘You would have an agency that did not have the authorities it needs to protect consumers.’”
“Amanda Jackson, who takes on powerful financial industry forces every day as the Organizing Manager for Americans for Financial Reform, says she’s drawing strength and inspiration from a surge of activism. ‘Trump is forcing people to be more conscious of problems that certain communities have been facing forever,’ Jackson told Inequality.org. ‘There’s no gray area anymore. Either you turn a blind eye to the problems or you answer the call to action. Fortunately, we’re seeing many people answer that call.’”
“The Texas Republican shared a memo with other lawmakers last week outlining changes he plans to make to his so-called Financial CHOICE Act… Impressively, he’s managed to make a bad bill even worse… Marcus Stanley, policy director for the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform, said Hensarling’s revised bill ‘makes regulators even weaker than they were before the financial crisis…’ Score that a big win for financial firms after years of filling Hensarling’s pockets with money.”
“‘This latest bill will wind up making regulators weaker than they were before the crisis,’ Marcus Stanley [of] Americans for Financial Reform… told CNNMoney. ‘It’s definitely a shift toward empowering the White House to micromanage consumer protections and enforcement actions.'”
“Sometime in the next few weeks, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to impose stringent limits on the ability of banks and credit card companies to avoid consumer lawsuits. The financial services industry has been screaming bloody murder
‘We’re all preparing for a big fight,’ says Amanda Werner, who has been keeping an eye on the CFPB rule making for the consumer groups Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform.”
“‘In order to have accountability, there must be real consequences when servicers violate the law,’ Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at the progressive Americans for Financial Reform, told the Tribune. ‘DeVos’ actions today moves us away from true accountability, and creates dangers for the very student loan borrowers the department is responsible for protecting.'”
“’Undoing these memos is a very concerning indication of how much (Department of Education officials) value protecting borrowers versus how much they want to insulate servicers,’ said Alexis Goldstein [of] Americans for Financial Reform. ‘Is this meant to be a message that says we are less concerned with borrowers and more concerned with protecting servicers even if they made mistakes in the past?’”
“’In order to have accountability, there must be real consequences when servicers violate the law,’ said Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at the progressive Americans for Financial Reform. ‘DeVos’s actions today moves us away from true accountability, and creates dangers for the very student loan borrowers the department is responsible for protecting.’
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren and a group of investor protection groups such as Americans for Financial Reform and the Consumer Federation of America have unveiled the ‘Retirement Ripoff Counter, which is a digital, large-scale, live projector that will show the harm President Trump is doing to investors by delaying the fiduciary rule. On the evening of April 5th, after dusk, the projection of the Retirement Ripoff Counter will be displayed on the sides of several major Washington landmarks.'”