Press Releases Archives - Americans for Financial Reform

News Release: House Committee Aims to Gut Key Financial Regulators

Proposals from the House Financial Services Committee majority for budget reconciliation would defund and dramatically erode the effectiveness of key financial regulators under the pretense of generating budgetary savings as part of the House majority’s broader plan to pay for tax cuts for the very richest families, biggest business, and Wall Street firms. The real intention is to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the other agencies designed to reduce the likelihood and severity of future financial crises.

News Release: Organizations Urge Justice, Banking Regulators to Block Capital One-Discover Merger

Today, American Economic Liberties Project, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Public Citizen sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) urging them to block the proposed Capital One-Discover merger under federal antitrust and banking statutes.

News Release: EPIC and Americans for Financial Reform Oppose Attempt to Strip Away Payment App Protections

EPIC and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) oppose the Trump Administration’s recent attacks on the CFPB and efforts by Congress to overturn finalized CFPB rules that protect users of payment apps. These attacks put Americans’ privacy and financial wellbeing at risk and threaten to destabilize the financial industry.

News Release: Rally With Waters, Warren to Defend CFPB

On Monday, February 10, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Maxine Waters, and others will gather for a rally at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Elon Musk and Donald Trump are stealing from consumers, attempting to kill this essential agency that protects Americans from fraud and exploitation at the hands of banks and other corporations.

News Release: AFREF Seeks Information About Musk Team at CFPB

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, a coalition of over 200 public interest groups fighting for a fairer financial system, today demanded answers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about the reported presence at the agency of three representatives of Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE team.

News Release: Trump’s Chopra Firing Undermines CFPB’s Consumer Protection Mission

President Donald Trump today caved in to pressure from Wall Street and Big Tech and fired Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. During the campaign, Trump dangled measures like caps on credit card interest rates, Trump is now sacking someone whose years of work on behalf of consumers benefited families across the country.

the outside exterior of the U.S. Treasury Department building

News Release: Report and Dataset Shows Climate Change Driving Up Insurance Costs

The Department of Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) released a report revealing how climate change is making homeowners insurance more expensive and harder to obtain across the United States. The report analyzes zip code level data—much of which was also released—obtained from insurers by FIO and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Aerial view of a winding highway through a forest

News Release: New Report Provides Roadmap for States to Protect Pensions from Federal Threats

State policymakers and pension officials should use all the tools at their disposal to protect public pensions from federal threats and safeguard their ability to make investment decisions that promote retirement with dignity and economic security, according to a new policy roadmap released by the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund.

News Release: Medical Debt Rule Will Protect 15 Million People from Negative Credit Impacts

Today, the CFPB finalized a requirement to remove medical bills from most credit reports, prohibiting companies like Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian from sharing medical debt information with lenders and barring them from considering medical debts in their credit determinations.

News Release: CFPB Lawsuit Highlights Need For Safeguards on Digital Transactions

Americans for Financial Reform applauds today’s announcement of action against the nation’s three largest banks, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, for failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud and risky activity on Zelle, the most widely available peer-to-peer payment network.