CFPB issued a final regulation ensuring that consumers can join together to challenge financial fraud and scams in court. The rule limits the use of forced arbitration, a process Wall Street banks and predatory lenders use to evade accountability and keep their misconduct out of the public eye.
Today at a public hearing at the Department of Education, AFR’s senior policy analyst gave testimony about the need to enforce the Borrower Defense and Gainful Employment regulations, not to reopen or dismantle them. Here is her testimony, as prepared for delivery: “I can’t believe
The slide presentation linked below documents AFR’s findings on the 2017 CCAR stress tests. AFR Assessing the 2017 Stress Tests A Medium blog post is also available here: https://medium.com/@RealBankReform/stress-tests-less-stressful-than-ever-fbe68b8e161a
It would gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, enable reckless behavior by big banks, and hand a special favor to payday lenders. Lawmakers should reject this legislation out of hand.
A major new report released today found that private arbitration firms that decide claims against corporations accused of fraud, sexual harassment, wage theft, abuse of nursing home residents, and other illegal activity are themselves violating the law.
Treasury proposal advances ideas that have been pushed by industry lobbyists since Dodd-Frank was passed. We need more effective regulation and enforcement, not rollbacks driven by Wall Street and predatory lenders.
Consumers, investors and anyone who felt the impact of the financial crisis and recession will want to fight to ensure that not just the whole bill, but the set of dangerous proposals it includes, die in the Senate.
“Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said that he has a hard time taking Trump at his word, especially since he has populated his administration with finance executives. ‘So far, Trump has just talked up Glass-Steagall without actually doing anything, which is what you’d expect from a guy who puts big banks in charge of policy,’ said Stanley, whose group would like to see the law reinstated.”
“’Contrary to its title, H.R. 10 would deprive consumers and investors of any choice of their day in court when resolving serious disputes with powerful financial institutions and force them into a rigged system,’ Amanda Werner, arbitration campaign manager with Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen, said in a statement.”
The committee has passed a bill that would give Wall Street and assorted predatory lenders a free hand to abuse consumers and investors, and would increase the likelihood of another financial crisis. If it became law it would make life harder for American families and for small businesses of all types.