Financial Reform News Archives - Page 6 of 125 - Americans for Financial Reform

News Release: AFR Cheers Introduction of Legislation Eliminating Opportunity Zone Tax Giveaway

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced groundbreaking and essential legislation to repeal the deeply flawed Opportunity Zone tax break passed as part of the 2017 tax cut legislation. In addition to the basic problems with this tax break for the wealthy, multiple media exposés have already found that the rules have been bent to include parcels that benefitted high-rolling real estate investors, including those with ties to the Trump administration.

In The News: Ocasio-Cortez Explains Everything Wrong with Private Equity in Less Than a Minute (GQ)

“I wasn’t sent here to safeguard and protect profit,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a video from the hearing circulated by Americans for Financial Reform, “I was sent here to safeguard and protect people.”

In The News: Once Mulvaney’s chief of staff, payday lobbyist enjoys frequent access to his old boss (The Washington Post)

“This lobbyist is about the purest walking-and-talking evidence you could imagine of why money matters in Washington,” Linda Jun, senior policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform

News Release: New Poll Shows Very Broad Support for Action to Curb Private Equity Abuses

The survey found that voters across party lines both disapprove of common approaches of private equity firms in taking over and running existing businesses. They also approve of measures to increase accountability, close loopholes, and protect workers, investors and the viability of target firms.

AFR Polling Memo: New Survey Shows Bipartisan Skepticism of Private Equity Tactics, Support for Reform

Voters support continued reform of Wall Street, and that conviction extends to the private equity industry, according to a new poll by Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting. Majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans, oppose the predatory tactics of private equity industry, and support legislative proposals aimed at correcting its abuses.

Letter to Congress: Letter in Support of the Small Business Lending Fairness Act

AFR and partners sent a letter in support of the Small Business Lending Fairness Act, which protects small businesses from predatory lenders by ensuring their ability to defend their businesses in the justice system by codifying the ban on confessions of judgments in consumer and small business loans.

This Halloween, we’re fighting the Zombie Debt Trap

Halloween is a fun time of year where we allow ourselves to be “scared” by haunted houses, ghosts and zombies. But there’s nothing fun about Zombie Debt — which is time-barred debt that is past the legal limit for which it can be collected. The

News Release: Payday Lenders Openly Brag That Their Contributions Lead to Regulation Rollbacks

A video obtained by consumer watchdog groups Allied Progress and Americans for Financial Reform shows payday industry executives bluntly discussing how campaign contributions to the Trump campaign has bought them access to his administration. In a recent webinar, predatory lenders reveal their plan for using campaign cash to lock in a final CFPB payday rule that enriches them at consumers’ expense.

In The News: Payday lenders discussed raising money for Trump’s campaign to fend off regulation, audio reveals (The Washington Post)

“We have here a striking example of how money in American politics leads to the abuse of consumers in the financial services marketplace,” said Linda Jun, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform.

Op-Ed: Don’t buy what Zuckerberg’s selling on Libra (American Banker)

“When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress this week, he’ll likely try to justify the launch of the Libra cryptocurrency in the face of regulatory attempts to block it. But make no mistake: This project is an effort to mint a global supercurrency — and harness power beyond government reach.” Raúl Carrillo, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and Demand Progress Education Fund