Statements and Press Releases Archives - Page 56 of 86

AFR Statement: Forgetting the Lessons of the Financial Crisis

“As today’s [Senate banking committee] vote shows, a disturbing number of lawmakers are once again willing to act as shills for Wall Street and its discredited deregulatory agenda. But the sharply divided nature of the vote is heartening. Ten of the committee’s 22 members voted against the bill. Their continued support for Wall Street reform, along with the public’s support, makes it unlikely that this dangerous bill or anything like it will become law.”

Joint Statement: 58 Lawmakers Call for a Strong CFPB Rule on Forced Arbitration

In a letter to Director Richard Cordray, 58 lawmakers urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to use its Dodd-Frank authority to prohibit financial services companies from forcing consumers to resolve disputes in private arbitration instead of court. The CFPB should heed their call, four public-interest groups, including AFR, said today.

Joint Petition: 78,000 Individuals and 50 Organizations Tell Dept. of Education to Grant Debt Relief to Corinthian Students

“Yesterday, more than 78,000 individuals as well as 51 national and local consumer, labor, and community groups sent a clear message – exressed in a set of petitions and letters to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan – that the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) has a duty to cancel the federal student loans of all borrowers harmed by Corinthian Colleges without requiring each one to prove Corinthian’s fraud. “

AFR Statement at CFPB Field Hearing on Student Loan Servicing

“The CFPB should use the authority that it has to make sure that borrowers are treated fairly, and that they get the information they need to take advantage of any repayment plans available to them. This means that abusive, profit-increasing practices that are banned in other consumer debt industries, but are still used by companies that collect payments on private student loans, must be curbed.”

AFR Statement on Senator Shelby’s Draft Bill

“Senator Shelby’s 216-page draft legislation makes sweeping changes that would significantly weaken key financial reforms passed in direct response to the events of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. It puts the wish list of the financial sector above protecting the stability of the US economy, and the safety of mortgage markets and of homebuyers. “

AFR Statement: Rep. Tammy Duckworth and Bipartisan Allies Beat Back Attack on the Military Lending Act

“Late last night, a bipartisan group of Armed Services Committee members, led by Rep. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), a veteran, upheld the Defense Department’s efforts to close loopholes and add new protections to the Military Lending Act (MLA), a 2007 law that was meant to declare servicemembers off-limits to payday and other debt-trap consumer loans.”

Joint Statement: 225,000 Americans tell Congress and Obama Administration to follow through on a strong fiduciary-duty rule for retirement advisers

With a public review process just getting underway, CREDO Action, MoveOn.org, AFR and Public Citizen have submitted petitions in which more than 225,000 people tell lawmakers and regulators to uphold the promise of strong action to protect Americans against self-serving retirement advice.

AFR Statement: The Trans Pacific Partnership, Fast Track and Financial Regulation

“The expansion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) under the TPP poses a significant threat to financial regulations being put in place in the US and around the world in the wake of the financial crisis. It could allow financial companies to challenge new rules put in place to protect consumers and investors or ensure the stability of the financial system, and force U.S. taxpayers to pay for any losses in profits claimed due to these rules.”

AFR Statement: Elizabeth Warren Lays Out the “Unfinished Business” of Financial Reform

“Americans for Financial Reform has steadily advocated for many of the policy ideas outlined in her speech, and applauds this heightened push to advance them… Even more important, we support Senator Warren’s call for a renewed effort both to carry out the Dodd-Frank reforms and, based on the lessons of the implementation process up to now, move beyond ‘technocratic’ measures that can be easy for the biggest banks to outmaneuver toward a more ‘structural’ approach and the promise of a fundamentally simpler, safer and fairer financial system.”

Joint Statement: AFR and 40 Major Groups Applaud Public Release of DOL’s Proposal to Protect Americans’ Retirement Savings

“Members of the SaveOurRetirement.org coalition and a diverse collection of public interest groups, civil rights leaders, labor unions, professional organizations and others today commended the public release of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule to protect Americans from conflicts of interest when brokers and other financial advisers give retirement investment advice.”