AFR join civil rights, consumer, and community groups in lauding the OCC for issuing a strong guidance regarding banks’ selling of charged-off consumer debts to debt buyers. The groups urged the agency to also take the next step and issue strong regulations to ensure that national banks do not continue to facilitate unfair, deceptive, and abusive debt collection practices.
AFR released a statement to the press regarding a GAO report on Too Big To Fail Banks and the expectations of government support for bank holding companies.
Americans for Financial Reform, California Reinvestment Coalition, National Fair Housing Alliance, National People’s Action, New Economy Project, and Woodstock Institute praised the CFPB for proposing “a number of positive steps to improve the range and detail of mortgage application and lending information available to financial regulators and the public.” This kind of data, the statement says, “is crucial for regulators and the public to understand the mortgage market, who does and does not have access to credit, and on what terms.”
AFR issued a statement on the final SEC rule on money market funds. AFR feels that these reforms are inadequate, and encourages the SEC to work with other regulators to address remaining systemic risks related to money market funds.
Nearly five years after the financial crisis, a new national poll – conducted on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending – shows continued bipartisan support for tougher regulation of the financial industry and its products and services. A sweeping majority of voters (78%) believe that financial rules and enforcement need to be strengthened, and that Wall Street’s bad practices have not changed enough.
“Public access to consumer complaints can help individuals make smart decisions upfront. Consumers will be able to draw their own conclusions from the data. Those who identify a company with disreputable lending practices or poor complaint resolution will be in a position to harness the power of the purse to protect themselves. Businesses with good products and customer service will benefit, and academics, researchers and others will be able to help the agency spot harmful trends and patterns before they become widespread.”
Testifying before a House Financial Services subcommittee on July 15, Lauren Saunders of the National Consumer Law Center warned against measures that “would undermine important efforts underway at the Department of Justice and banking regulators designed to ensure that banks do not facilitate illegal activity.”
“We write to you now on behalf of the millions of families who are still struggling with negative home equity, as well as those who are in danger of losing their homes through foreclosure, and the neighbors and communities hurt by foreclosures around them. The need to swiftly reverse the government sponsored enterprise (GSE) policy on principal reduction remains a major priority for many organizations and community members.”
“At the Capitol this afternoon [July 9], Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) received petitions in which nearly 600,000 Americans call for action on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. This bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Warren along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Angus King (I-Maine), would address the problem of Wall Street banks that have become too complicated, too conflicted and too powerful, as well as simply too big.”
“Overall, this rule is disappointing. It continues to leave a major gap in regulatory authority regarding the application of U.S. law to foreign subsidiaries of U.S. banks. Specifically, while the rule applies U.S. jurisdiction to cases where a foreign subsidiary’s swap counterparty has legal recourse to the U.S. parent bank for the performance of a specific swap, it does not extend jurisdiction to cases where the parent U.S. bank is implicitly or even explicitly committed to guarantee the subsidiary in general.”