AFR in the News Archives - Page 9 of 58 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: With ‘Rip-off Clause’ Quashed, Consumers Can Now Sue Banks in Class-Action (USA Today)

“After years of review on the subject, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau… declared a new rule Monday that bans banks, credit card companies, payday lenders and other financial firms from requiring consumers to settle group disputes through arbitration... ‘The biggest step has been taken. This is a huge victory for consumers,’ said Amanda Werner, campaign manager at Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen. ’We expect a lot of misconduct is going to be rooted out sooner.’”

AFR in the News: Banks and Credit Card Companies Can’t Try to Stop You from Joining a Class Action Lawsuit — For Now (LA Times)

“Consumers had good reason to celebrate Monday after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau… issued a rule blocking credit card companies, banks and other financial firms from putting roadblocks in the way of customers joining class-action lawsuits. It’s a big deal… Said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform: ‘The consumer agency’s rule will stop Wall Street and predatory lenders from ripping people off with impunity, and make markets fairer and safer for ordinary Americans.’”

AFR in the News: How Trump’s Pick To Police Wall Street Endangers The Economy (Huffington Post)

“‘“Quarles is an insider. He has been an insider for decades to both Wall Street and the inside-Washington sort of swamp ― the Wall Street-Washington nexus,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR in the News: This New Rule Could Make It A Lot Easier to Sue Your Bank (KUSA-TV Colorado)

“‘Forced arbitration deprives victims of not only their day in court, but the right to band together with other targets of corporate lawbreaking. It’s a get-out-of-jail-free card for lawbreakers,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘The consumer agency’s rule will stop Wall Street and predatory lenders from ripping people off with impunity, and make markets fairer and safer for ordinary Americans.’”

AFR in the News: Trump changes higher ed with rollback of consumer protections (Washington Post)

“The task force is co-chaired by Robert S. Eitel, a former attorney at for-profit college operator Bridgepoint Education, who is now senior counsel to DeVos… ‘At no point are they asking for the input of student loan borrowers or people enrolled in college,’ said Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at the progressive Americans for Financial Reform. “The common theme here is enriching a certain number of private actors at the expense of protections for borrowers.”

AFR in the News: Treasury takes up big-bank priorities (NY Times editorial)

“Dodd-Frank is not perfect. For one thing, it is overly complex. And there are worthy reform alternatives that have been put forward that rely less on specific regulations and more on increased capital requirements and structural changes to separate traditional banking from speculative investing… The Treasury report has none of those proposals’ analytical rigor. Rather, it is designed to please the banks. Americans for Financial Reform, a watchdog group, plans to release a paper showing that the Treasury review endorses almost two-thirds of specific deregulatory requests submitted to the Treasury in May by the Clearing House Association, a big bank lobby.”

AFR in the News: House wants to deregulate Big Banks again (Pekin, Ill. Daily Times)

“‘This legislation takes the worst ideas concocted by Wall Street and predatory lenders, and combines them into one toxic package,” [Lisa Donner, director of Americans for Financial Reform] said. ‘The bill is crammed with deregulatory gifts to the entire industry, including megabanks that want to return to the excessive borrowing and risky practices that led to the financial crisis.’”

AFR in the News: The Education Department just froze two key protections for students (The Nation)

“The New York Times obtained draft memos showing that officials initially discussed using budgetary impact as the justification. In other words, they looked for whatever pretense could get them to stop the rule on behalf of for-profit operators. Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, called the action ‘a slap in the face to defrauded Americans,’ and accused DeVos’s agency of placing ‘the interests of wealthy for-profit college executives ahead of students striving for a better life.’”

AFR in the News: Mnuchin calls for major rollbacks of Dodd-Frank (LA Times)

“‘We need more effective regulation and enforcement, not rollbacks driven by Wall Street and predatory lenders,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, a group advocating tougher oversight of the financial system. The report, which included dozens of recommendations, is the first of three ordered by Trump as he looks to fulfill a campaign promise to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”

AFR in the News: Bill to Erase Some Dodd-Frank Banking Rules Passes in House (NY Times)

“’It’s a bill that’s so harmful to vast swaths of the American public…,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. “It would make it easier for predatory lenders to rip people off. It would make it easier for Wall Street to keep taking $17 billion out of retirees’ pockets by repealing the fiduciary rule. It would make it easier for big Wall Street banks to take the kind of risks in pursuit of short-term gains that go directly to the pockets of the tiny handful of people at the top that led to the financial crisis.’”