AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to reject HR 26, the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.” This legislation contains the inclusion of an irrelevant provision that would weaken financial regulatory protections by banning the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from any oversight of margin and collateral for derivatives transactions with commercial end users.
AFR sent a letter to members of Congress, urging them to oppose HR 37, “Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act.” This legislation includes numerous changes that could have significant negative impacts on regulators ability to police the financial markets so that they function safely and transparently.
AFR sent a letter to members of the House urging opposition to H.R. 5403, the “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act.” This legislation places unnecessary restrictions on the CFPB’s oversight of auto financing practices— restrictions that do not exist for any other financial practice and are designed to chill the agency’s attempts to bring fairness and transparency to the auto lending market.
AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose HR 5471. This legislation would amend the Dodd-Frank Act to expand exemptions from derivatives clearing requirements for financial affiliates of commercial entities.
AFR joined eight other organizations in sending a letter to members of Congress, urging that they reject HR 5446. The bill would exempt the big credit reporting agencies and debt collectors from coverage by the Credit Repair Organizations Act, which prohibits anyone offering credit repair services from engaging in fraud or deception. The exemption would make it easier for the companies to promote expensive and largely useless credit monitoring products.
AFR sent a letter to House and Senate members asking them to oppose S. 2732, the “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Examination and Reporting Threshold Act of 2014.” This legislation would increase from $10 billion to $50 billion the asset threshold for “large banks” subject to supervision by the CFPB, dramatically reducing the number of large banks supervised by the CFPB threatening harm to the hundreds of millions of consumers who are beginning to benefit from effective oversight of these institutions.
AFR and more than twenty public interest, consumer, and labor organizations sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose HR 3211. This legislation would reopen the door to the higher fees borrowers faced in the lead up to the mortgage crisis.
AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to reject HR 4, “Jobs for America Act,” focusing in particular on the portion of the bill that would roll back new registration and reporting requirements for private equity fund advisors that have already uncovered widespread abuses by the industry.
AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging that they oppose HR 5405 and The Insurance Capital Standards Act of 2014. These pieces of legislation include numerous technical changes that could have significant impacts on regulators ability to enforce new financial rules, and they deserve full debate and consideration from regulatory experts before being passed under suspension of the rules.
“Against the backdrop of $1.2 trillion dollars in outstanding student loan debt that is currently dragging on individual borrowers and the economy more broadly, it is imperative that our federal lawmakers take steps to change banking and financial firm practices that contribute to that debt burden.” – joint letter to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.