Category Archives: Letters and Statements

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Press Statement: Civil Rights Groups, Consumer Advocates, Legal Scholars and Members of Congress file Amicus Briefs in PHH Corporation vs. CFPB

“Today, consumer and civil rights groups, leading legal scholars and members of Congress will submit amicus briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case of PHH Corporation v. CFPB in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The diverse amici urge the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to maintain a strong, independent agency to protect American consumers. …’In the five years since it opened its doors, the CFPB has worked tirelessly to enforce the laws that went ignored in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, and has done more than any other federal agency to empower consumers against predatory, deceptive, and outright fraudulent behavior by bad actors in the financial industry…,’ said Wade Henderson, president and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.”

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Joint Letter to Congress: 50+ Organizations Urge Congress to Keep Rules That Protect Students and Taxpayers from Waste and Fraud in Higher Education

“We believe protections for student and taxpayers should be strengthened, not scaled back. …Veterans, low-income students and students of color have been disproportionately harmed by predatory colleges. Last month, 16 organizations representing millions of military servicemembers, veterans, survivors, and military families voiced their strong support for these protections and urged Congress to fully uphold them.”

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Letter to Regulators: 34 Organizations Call For Stronger Protections For Consumers with Limited English Proficiency Against Abusive Debt Collection

This letter addresses the CFPB’s proposal related to increasing access to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s protections for Limited English Proficient (LEP) consumers. …Many of these individuals participate in the consumer credit marketplace, but may have greater difficulty navigating the market, especially when debts go into collection and consumers face the legal implications of unpaid debt.”

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AFR Statement: House Bill Would Let Banks and Lenders Keep Ill-Gotten Gains

“The House passed legislation to effectively kill class action lawsuits, which are often consumers’ only chance to fight back against repeated corporate fraud and scams… ‘If this bill becomes law, those ill-gotten gains will instead be used to pad Wall Street’s bottom line,’ said Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform… ‘H.R. 985 gives banks and lenders a license to steal and encourages more scandals like Wells Fargo’s fake account opening.'”​

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AFR Policy Brief: The Volcker Rule And Market Making in Times Of Stress

” ‘The Volcker Rule And Market Making In Times of Stress’ paper does not represent the official view of the Federal Reserve, and is not a Federal Reserve Report. …It is simply false to present this paper as demonstrating that the Volcker Rule has created market costs that exceed its risk reduction benefits.”

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Letters to Regulators: Federal Reserve Commodity Proposal

“AFR strongly supports measures to both limit and control risks of physical commodity involvement at financial holding companies. …Specifically, we support the new consolidated limits on the total size of commodity holdings, the capital increase to 300 percent risk weights applied to commodities held under 4(k), and more…”

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Joint Statement: 104 Organizations Respond to Sen. Carper’s interest in exploring changes to CFPB structure

“With a single director at its head the CFPB is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It has recovered $12 billion for over 29 million people. The only plausible reason to change it, after nearly 6 years of good work, is to stop that good work from happening. The banks and predatory lenders who are pushing this want to be able to abuse consumers with impunity. There is no good reason to enable them.”

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AFR Statement: Senators should oppose the nomination of Steven Mnuchin

“The majority on the Senate Finance Committee has chosen to ignore lies and evasions, to ram through a nomination in defiance of its own procedures, and to all vote YES despite both the known facts about Steven Mnuchin’s bank’s abusive and sometimes illegal foreclosure practices, and serious unanswered questions on this and other matters. The minority on the committee did the right thing in demanding responses before a vote, every remaining Senator should demand the same before a floor vote is scheduled, and they should vote no when it comes before them. The country needs a Treasury Secretary who will stand up for the public interest, not another representative of Wall Street in government.”