Statements and Press Releases Archives - Page 51 of 86

AFR Statement: The House Puts Its Seal of Approval on Discriminatory Auto Lending

“Supporters of the “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act,” which passed by a vote of 332 to 96, have tried to hide behind a smokescreen of baseless questions and false claims supplied to them by industry lobbyists. But the clear intent of this bill is to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from taking action to combat lending practices that lead to African-American as well as Hispanic and Asian-American borrowers being charged higher interest rates on auto loans.”

Press Release: Four Groups and 50,000 Petitioners Urge Congress to Oppose Auto Loan Discrimination

ColorOfChange, Working Families, Center for Popular Democracy and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) delivered over 50,000 petitions urging Congress not to pass H.R. 1737, which would block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from working to fight discrimination in car loans.

AFR Statement: Financial Services Committee Aims to Loosen the Rules for Some of the Country’s Biggest Banks

“These deregulatory measures are on the committee’s docket only as a result of massive lobbying by large financial institutions seeking a license to continue playing the kinds of heads-they-win-tails-we-lose games that were at heart of the financial crisis. Lawmakers need to decide whether to let the financial industry have its way or stand up for the public interest.”

Letter to Congress and Administration: AFR and 166 Organizations Oppose Financial Policy Riders

With a government shutdown narrowly averted and budget negotiations moving into a potentially volatile final stage, more than 160 national, state and local organizations are telling lawmakers and the Administration not to let the process be used to force through ideological spending riders that would block financial reform or undermine the funding or authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

AFR Statement: New HMDA Rules Should Advance Efforts to Make Mortgage Credit Available Fairly, Safely, and Broadly

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced yesterday that it has finalized a set of updated HMDA rules that should significantly improve the quality and value of this data, deepening public understanding of the mortgage market and advancing efforts to make credit available fairly, safely, and broadly.”

Joint Press Release: 52 Organizations Back Sen. Baldwin’s Effort to Close Carried Interest Loophole

“Closing the carried interest loophole should be among the first items considered in the ongoing negotiations to prevent the damaging and indiscriminate sequester cuts and to invest in critical programs that support low- and middle-income Americans,” the organizations wrote in the letter. “The carried interest loophole is an egregious violation of the principle of tax fairness.”

AFR Statement: The Clinton Campaign Lays out a Financial Reform Agenda

“These are matters of vital public significance, and it is a sign of progress that they are on the public agenda for the 2016 election… In a number of important areas, however, the plan largely restates existing law or practice, or reiterates commitments that regulators have already made. As a totality it does not go far enough to address the scale and scope of the problems of our financial system. “

AFR Statement: The CFPB Takes a Stand on Class-Action Bans

“Class actions, as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg explained in 1997, create room for “vindication of the rights of groups of people who individually would be without effective strength” to object to wrongdoing. Leaving consumers without “effective strength” is precisely the point of the class-action bans found more and more often in contracts governing student and payday loans, credit and prepaid cards, and other financial products and services.”

AFR Statement: Three Bad Bills Get Committee’s OK, But Fail to Win Broad Support

“The committee’s approval of these bills had not been in doubt. In fact, there had been speculation that in one or more cases, a substantial number of Democrats might join the Republican majority in their support. But that did not happen… HR 414 passed on a straight party-line vote, while HR 1090 won the backing of only a single Democrat… and HR 1266 just two… That qualifies as a victory.”

AFR Statement: CFPB’s Defenders Hold the Line in Financial Services Committee

“Industry forces made a big effort to win more Democratic votes. But in the end, they fell short: the Financial Services Committee approved HR 1266, but in a largely partisan vote that dimmed its prospects for becoming law. With their hard push, however, the bill’s backers made it very clear just who is pushing for a commission instead of a single director, and why.”