Category Archives: Statements and Press Releases

News Release
CFPB Finalizes rPACE Rule to Protect Green Lending Consumers 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) issued an important final rule on residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (rPACE), a form of green lending used to cover the cost of home improvements which is most commonly used for energy efficiency improvements and solar panel installations. 

Statement
To the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing on “Consumer Protection: Protecting Workers’ Money and Fighting for the Dignity of Work”

Statement for the Record On Behalf of Americans For Financial Reform Before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing on “Consumer Protection: Protecting Workers’ Money and Fighting for the Dignity of Work” Wednesday, December 11, 2024 Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) appreciates the opportunity

Statement
AFR Vows Renewed Fight Against Corrosive Wall Street Influence

Following the 2024 elections, Americans for Financial Reform will redouble our commitment to build a fairer, more racially just, and more inclusive economy and society. We must stop Wall Street from writing rules of the game that concentrate wealth at the top and make life more difficult and insecure for everyone else. People — across all parties and demographics — consistently and strongly support curbing Wall Street’s corrosive control of the economy and protecting families from the predatory and extractive financial industry. 

News Release
New Legislation Needed to Curb Private Equity Abuses

The Stop Wall Street Looting Act of 2024 includes new measures to curb the growing power of private equity across the board and in key sectors of the economy like healthcare, and to penalize private equity firms and executives for their actions that harm a company and its workers even after they no longer control it. Lessons from the 2023 collapse of Steward Health Care, which stemmed from its 2010 buyout by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, shaped the new provisions.

CFPB

News Release
CFPB Saves Consumers Billions with Actions on Overdraft

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new guidance on overdraft fees linked to ATM and one-time debit card transactions will help curtail predatory junk fees that obscure accurate pricing on bank services. The CFPB’s new guidelines can reduce the likelihood that overdraft services flout the law and prevent people from being charged illegal fees.

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

News Release
New Treasury Rules Pull Back the Curtain on Corporate Landlords and Their Financial Backers That Can No Longer Hide Behind LLCs

The Treasury Department released two new rules requiring the disclosure of real estate ownership transparency that will make it easier to identify corporate real estate backers and crack down on money laundering in the real estate sector. This announcement comes the week after the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against RealPage for facilitating rent price fixing by corporate landlords, and together represent major back-to-back tenant victories against corporate landlords and their privately-funded financial backers