AFR applauds CFPB steps to bring greater fairness and transparency to the auto lending market, which they did today by hosting a field hearing focused on auto finance issues. The CFPB also announced details on a proposed rule to bring auto lenders under its oversight; a crucial step toward creating a fairer and more transparent auto lending market for consumers.
This week, with Congress’s most unproductive session in modern memory nearing an end, the House of Representatives will take up an array of measures to deregulate Wall Street – measures for which there is close to zero voter support. If all goes according to its leaders’ plans, the House will debate and approve three separate legislative packages containing dozens of proposals to reverse or impede the financial reforms adopted after the 2008 crisis, or to throw procedural roadblocks of a broader kind in the way of the already slow process of adopting financial as well as health, safety and environmental regulations.
AFR issued a statement regarding new rules issued by banking regulators.
AFR issued a statement regarding the finalized rules issued by the SEC regarding asset backed securities and credit rating agencies.
“A bipartisan group of 15 legislators… has released a letter calling for stronger limitations on the use of Federal Reserve emergency lending powers. The Dodd-Frank Act mandated new limits on such emergency lending. Today’s letter strongly criticizes the Federal Reserve’s proposal to implement these new limits, saying that the proposal places ‘no meaningful restrictions’ on lending powers and leaves the door open to a future ‘backdoor bailout’ of Wall Street. AFR welcomes this letter and applauds the efforts of legislators to address this issue.”
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.