Category Archives: Education Fund

Letters to Congress: Letter in Opposition to anti-ESG bills that threaten workers’ retirement security and our financial system, and weaken tools of corporate accountability

AFR led a coalition of 39 partner organizations in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries opposing H.R. 4790 and H.R. 5339. These bills are part of a broader campaign against common sense investment practices and would undermine workers’ retirement security, weaken corporate accountability, and compromise the integrity of our financial system. The coalition urges Congress to reject these bills, which favor corporate interests at the expense of workers, investors, and the public.

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Amicus Brief: Chamber of Commerce v. CFPB Amicus Brief filed

Americans for Financial Reform recently joined several consumer protection organizations in an amicus brief in Chamber of Commerce v. CFPB, which was filed by Democracy Forward in the 5th Circuit in August 2024. This brief supports the CFPB’s 2022 clarification in its Supervision and Examination Manual that “discriminatory acts or practices” in the provision of financial services may be “unfair” under the Dodd-Frank Act. The brief asks the 5th Circuit to reverse the judgment of the district court, and hold that the CFPB has statutory authority to consider discriminatory conduct an “unfair” practice.

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Letters to the Regulators: AFREF and CRL submit comment demonstrating structural racism roots of racial disparities in medical debt

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and the Center for Responsible Lending support the rule to prohibit creditors and consumer reporting agencies from using medical debt information for credit eligibility determinations. The rule is essential to protect families from the negative impacts of medical debt on their health and their finances. But the rule is especially important to protect Black, Latine, and other people of color who are more likely to have medical debt burdens.

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Letters to the Regulators: AFREF Comment to SEC/FinCEN on Customer Identification Programs for Private Funds and Venture Capital

The Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) supporting the proposal to require the $125 trillion in Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) and Exempt Reporting Advisers (mainly Venture Capital) to implement Customer Identification Programs to better understand who the beneficial owners of their funds are.

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Fact Sheet: Proposed Capital One-Discover Merger Fails to Meet Bank Merger Act Requirements

The proposed acquisition of Discover by Capital One would create the sixth-largest bank in the United States, with $624 billion in domestic assets. This transaction fails to meet the public interest conditions under the Bank Merger Act that directs banking regulators to reject mergers, like the Capital One-Discover transaction, that fail to further the convenience and needs of communities.

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Fact Sheet: Antitrust Implications of the Proposed Capital One-Discover Merger

The proposed Capital One takeover of Discover would create a mammoth bank that would undermine competition, raise prices, and harm consumers. The merger would create the biggest credit card lender — holding nearly one-third of credit card loans to consumers with non-prime credit scores — and put Capital One in a position to use its market power to raise prices on virtually captive consumers.

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Letters to the Regulators: Letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Support of the Title Acceptance Pilot Program

Americans for Financial Reform Education Funded joined with the National Consumer Law Center, the Consumer Federation of America, and other advocacy groups to express our support for recent announcements from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reflecting their intention to explore carefully-crafted pilot programs aimed at reducing closing costs for homeowners–specifically, a “title acceptance” pilot program.

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