Category Archives: Financial Reform News

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Press Release: More than 13,500 People Tell the CFPB: Happy Birthday and Keep up the Good Fight

CFPB Director Richard Cordray accepted delivery yesterday of a set of birthday-card-style petitions in which more than 13,500 Americans expressed their support and gratitude for the Bureau’s efforts “to safeguard American consumers, families and communities against the deceptive and abusive practices of big banks, cred card companies, and unscrupulous lenders.” The signatures were gathered by Americans for Financial Reform, National People’s Action, and the Center for Popular Democracy.

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AFR in the News: Dodd-Frank is Not Perfect but a Boon for Consumers and Economy (Philadelphia Inquirer & other papers)

“The financial system that pushed the U.S. economy to the edge of collapse in 2008 was a doubly rigged game. It was set up to inflate the profits of banks and insiders twice over—first through products designed to bilk consumers and investors, and second through massive speculation, with taxpayers ultimately paying for the bets that went bad. It was a dishonest system and a dangerous one, and while Dodd-Frank was not a complete fix for either problem, it has made progress on both.”

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Letter to Congress: AFR, 19 Organizations: CFPB, Dodd-Frank are Constitutionally Sound

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, the leading public interest coalition that supported enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) and its members, including the undersigned, we write both to explain the importance of the Act and to point out that, while numerous opponents of financial reform have challenged the act’s constitutionality, none have prevailed, in any court. “

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AFR Statement: Appropriations Bill Is Backdoor Financial Deregulation

“In addition to [a] dangerous and highly partisan rollback of financial regulations, the legislation takes aim at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that is succeeding at its job of making the consumer finance markets safer and fairer. The appropriations bill contains policy riders that would dramatically weaken the CFPB by making it the only bank regulator which does not have independent funding, and by replacing the CFPB’s single director with a five-member commission – a known recipe for gridlock.”

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Letter to Regulators: AFR Calls on Department of Labor to Protect Retirement Investors

“This is a huge problem – one that, over time, can easily add up to a difference of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement savings. Under the current rules, some of the financial professionals offering retirement investment advice are legally bound to look out for the best interests of their clients; but other professionals, while perceived as having such a duty and clearly benefiting from the perception, are free to put their own interests first, even if that means saddling their clients with needlessly high fees or inappropriate risks.”