Category Archives: Education Fund

Fact Sheet: AFREF Factsheet on CFPB Overdraft Rule Benefitting Servicemembers and Military Families

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) overdraft fee rule will discourage financial institutions from abusive and predatory overdraft practices, which often target servicemembers and military families. Banks charge overdraft fees for covering transactions that exceed account balances, but these charges can be illegally or unfairly applied and overdraft fee revenue has become a major profit center for some institutions.

Statement: AFR Statement for the Record for the Senate Banking Hearing on So-Called “de-banking”

AFR submitted a statement for the record hearing that challenges the notion of so-called de-banking, which is really a red herring to obscure the real risks from reckless speculation, egregious self-dealing, or illegal and harmful financial transactions by the companies that complain.

Statement: AFR Statement for the Record for House Hearing Defending Overdraft Rule and Small Business Lending Transparency

AFR submitted a Statement for the Record to the House Financial Services Committee to oppose both the resolution of disapproval of the CFPB’s overdraft fee rule as well as the legislative proposals that would repeal or weaken the small business and farm lending transparency rules. These proposals will hurt everyday people, including consumers and their families, as well as small business owners and farmers and the communities they serve.

Fact Sheet: AFREF Coalition Fact Sheet on CFPB Larger Participants Rule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized a rule allowing it to supervise larger nonbank companies that offer services like digital wallets and payment apps, also known as peer-to-peer or P2P apps. Supervision of these companies will make sure they comply with the law and do not facilitate fraud. Banks are already supervised for these same reasons, and this rule will level the playing field to make sure all payments are safe, whether offered by a bank or a nonbank company.

Fact Sheet: AFREF Coalition Fact Sheet on CFPB Overdraft Rule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new overdraft fee rule closes a paper-check era loophole that has promoted abusive practices and allowed the biggest banks to earn billions in profits off of the most vulnerable families. The rule will help everyone, but especially families that are struggling with high prices and making ends meet.

Fact Sheet: AFREF Coalition Fact Sheet on CFPB 1033 Open Banking Rule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Personal Financial Data Rights Rule (Rule 1033) helps create a more consumer-friendly and competitive financial services marketplace by allowing people to easily and securely move their personal financial data between financial institutions. Prior to this rule, many banks and financial institutions limited how consumers could use their financial data, which made it difficult for people to comparison shop, manage money, use new technology, or switch accounts and service providers. With Rule 1033, people who wish to switch financial service providers can share their banking history and data from previous transactions in a secure manner, helping them more easily move between service providers.

Fact Sheet: AFREF Coalition Fact Sheet on CFPB Medical Debt Rule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) final rule to remove medical bills from most credit reports will prohibit credit reporting companies like Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian from sharing medical debt information with lenders as well as barring lenders from considering these medical debts in underwriting decisions.

Fact Sheet: AFREF Coalition Fact Sheet on CFPB Protecting People and Families

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created after the devastating 2008 financial crisis, exemplifies the government working for the people by vigorously protecting consumers and their families, including by reducing junk fees and holding corporations and financial institutions accountable when they engage in unfair and illegal conduct. Since its creation, the CFPB has stood up for the little guy against Wall Street, predatory lenders, and other financial services companies, by cracking down on junk fees, reducing the burdens of medical debt, fighting lending discrimination, and promoting banking competition, all while returning billions of dollars back into the pockets of everyday people.

Letters to Regulators: Letter to the Department of Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office Urging the Swift Release of Climate Change and Insurance Affordability Data

AFREF and 36 partners led a letter urging the Department of Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) to swiftly release the homeowner insurance data that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners collected from over 330 insurers representing over 80% of the property and casualty market while also urging FIO to swiftly release a robust report analyzing the data.

Letter to the Regulators: Letter to the SEC Supporting PCAOB’s Standardized Firm and Engagement Metrics

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, joined by 9 signatories, submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission strongly endorsing the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) proposed standards. The standards would require firms to disclose standardized and comparable metrics that facilitate cross-firm comparisons and assessments of audit quality, providing critical data for investors to make informed decisions. The letter highlights that requiring consistent and comparative metrics will reduce opportunistic disclosures, simplify audit committee oversight, and foster a data-driven approach to regulation and audit quality.