Category Archives: Statements and Press Releases

News Release: Groups: FDIC & OCC Are Wrong to Support Predatory Small Business Lender

Small business advocates, consumer groups, and civil-rights advocates today sent a letter to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) criticizing the agencies’ decision to file an amicus brief supporting a predatory small business lender that used a bank to evade state interest rate laws so that it could make a 120% annual percentage rate (APR) $550,000 loan.

by

News Release: AFR Applauds the House Passage of the FAIR Act

House of Representatives Passed HR 1423, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, in a 225-186 vote For Immediate Release: September 20, 2019 Contact: Carter Dougherty or carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act in a

by
No Thumbnail

News Release: Regulators Deal A Fatal Blow to the Volcker Rule

“This rule would free up hundreds of billions of dollars in securities and derivatives for proprietary trading purposes, completely outside of Volcker Rule coverage and in fact with an explicit exemption from proprietary trading restrictions,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform. “By simply designating positions as not explicitly held for trading, banks could easily evade the Volcker Rule. These changes spell the end of meaningful constraints on proprietary trading at taxpayer supported banks, and another step in dismantling financial stability safeguards.”

by
Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash

News Release: HUD Proposing to Roll Back Civil Rights Protections in Housing

“HUD’s proposed rule makes it virtually impossible for a disparate impact claim to stand in court,” says Linda Jun, senior policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “By raising the threshold for disparate impact, the new rule creates a nearly unsurmountable bar for plaintiffs to prove discriminatory outcomes and makes it much easier for defendants to shield themselves from any responsibility for discrimination.”

by
No Thumbnail

News Release: AFR Education Fund Statement on Office of Financial Research Staff Working Paper on the Volcker Rule

This new paper does not contradict previous comprehensive studies finding that liquidity in the corporate bond market has been robust and has shown no signs of deterioration over the period in which the Volcker Rule was implemented. The OFR staff working paper does find evidence that banks affected by the Volcker Rule charge significantly lower markups for newly issued bonds they underwrite (that are exempt from most Volcker Rule restrictions on proprietary trading) than they do for other types of bond trades covered by the Volcker Rule.

by
No Thumbnail

Joint Statement: Advocates Oppose FHFA’s Decision to Remove Language Preference Question from Loan Application

The Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Language Access Task Force strongly opposes the decision announced yesterday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to remove the question about a borrower’s language preference from the revised Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA). The Task Force members include the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, the Center for Responsible Lending, Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Consumer Action, Empire Justice Center, NAACP, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), National Consumer Law Center, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, and National Fair Housing Alliance.

by