AFR in the News Archives - Page 16 of 59 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: New federal rules could make it easier to have student loans forgiven (Washington Post)

“[C]onsumer advocates worry that people already contending with the existing process still face an uphill battle. ‘If you do the math, there are well over 80 percent of folks who are eligible that either don’t know to apply or have applied and the Education Department hasn’t done anything with their application,’ said Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at the progressive Americans for Financial Reform. ‘I don’t understand why the department is insisting on doing this person by person, instead of just approving students automatically.’”

AFR in the News: Bankers, Regulators Find No Easy Answers at Bank Culture Workshop (Wall St. Journal)

“U.K. banking rules now provide for unpaid bonus awards to be canceled or reduced, or bonuses to be returned or ‘clawed back’ if misconduct is later uncovered. Adjustments in unpaid bonuses within major U.K. banks tripled to about £300 million in 2014, from £100 million in 2010… ‘On a lot of these cultural issues, it seems like the U.K. is tougher than the U.S.,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform, an independent advocacy group for effective financial regulation.”

AFR in the News: Dueling Payday-Lending Campaigns Deluge CFPB With Comments (Wall St. Journal)

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has received about a million public comments… That figure is the highest in the agency’s five-year history… Consumer groups such as the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform formed an alliance and ran a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #StopTheDebtTrap and shepherded people to a comment site…”

AFR in the News: Google Said It Would Ban All Payday Loan Ads. It Didn’t. (Intercept)

“‘While things have improved it looks like some [lead generators] are, predictably, trying to get around the rules,’ said Gynnie Robnett, Campaign Director for Americans for Financial Reform… This is extremely common for the payday lending industry, whose business model is in some part predicated on skirting regulatory barriers to get high-cost loans into customers’ hands.”

AFR in the News: Clinton slams Wells Fargo, says she’ll fight consumer ‘gotchas’

“Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday said she’ll crack down on increasingly common ‘fine print’ consumer agreements that insulate companies such as Wells Fargo from lawsuits related to consumer abuses… The clauses typically force customers to use the arbitration firm and arbitrator selected by the company, says Amanda Werner, arbitration campaign manager for Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR in the News: Warren Grills Wells Fargo CEO – and Clinton Feels Heat (Daily Beast)

“Alexis Goldstein of Americans for Financial Reform said Clinton’s use of the term ‘clawback’ is a good sign and that she thinks it may be an endorsement on Clinton’s part of stricter rules regarding executive pay. ‘The amount of the fine by the three regulators, which is $185 million total, should be paid for out of executive bonuses, specifically Stumpf’s and one executive, Carrie Tolstedt,’ Goldstein added.”

AFR in the News: How to Make Sure Bad Bankers Are Held Accountable (American Banker)

“[P]erhaps the most shocking aspect of this story is that no executive under whose watch it occurred has been forced to return any compensation. While over 5,000 front line, mostly customer service employees have been fired, former consumer banking chief Carrie Tolstedt, who oversaw their work, recently retired with a $125 million compensation package. It is unclear if Wells Fargo plans to take back any of this pay package. There is similarly no clear indication that Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf will have to return any of the almost $100 million in bonus pay he received for the years in which the violations were occurring.”

AFR in the News: Why Wells Fargo got away with it for so long (The Hill)

“How did Wells Fargo get away with it for so long? A big part of the story: Wells Fargo contract provisions blocked consumers from suing the bank in court. It’s past time to prohibit the “ripoff clauses” that prevent consumers from enforcing their most basic legal rights… The problem isn’t just that aggrieved consumers don’t have access to a remedy. Keeping cases out of court means abuses are kept out of the spotlight. That’s exactly what happened with Wells Fargo, and why the abuses could go on so long.”

AFR in the News: Wells Fargo scandal hurts Wall Street’s bonuses battle (Denver Post)

“If the regulators finish the rule soon, the Wells Fargo incident will be fresh in their minds. Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, is counting on Wells Fargo acting as a shield against bank lobbying. ‘I think it will make it more difficult,’ Stanley said. ‘What I’m hoping is that it’ll make it easier for us to lobby to make it tougher.’”

AFR in the News: Wells Fargo urged to clawback bonuses over fake accounts (Financial Times)

“Two top institutional shareholders in the world’s most valuable bank by market capitalisation have demanded answers over payments to Carrie Tolstedt, who headed the division where the episode took place… Brian Simmonds Marshall, ‎policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, said: ‘Those who are responsible for the misconduct should not be getting bonuses for costing their shareholders and their customers money.'”