Americans for Financial Reform today applauded the introduction ofthe Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit Act of 2019, legislation that would extend the 36 percent APR interest rate cap on payday and car-title lenders in the Military Lending Act (MLA) to cover all Americans.
A coalition of 61 consumer, civil rights, and community groups today sent letters to three federal bank regulators urging them not to allow their banks to help payday lenders evade state interest rate limits.
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.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the Constitution allows the president to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) only for cause.
Today, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in opposition to its proposed rule on disparate impact.
Over the course of two days, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger, is testifying before both the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees. These are the top questions that Director Kraninger must answer as she testifies:
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
“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.”
“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.”
Consumer watchdog groups urged the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in a letter sent today to take action immediately to implement the payment provisions in its payday lending rule, whose compliance date is August 19, 2019.