It is deeply disappointing that Congress did not act to extend the federal student loan suspension in the COVID relief bill. This increases the urgency for President-Elect Biden to act, both by extending the pause on student loan payments and by cancelling federal student loan debt.
We urge you to nominate an SEC Chair who is committed to restoring corporate accountability and rebuilding robust, transparent public markets. Our country needs an SEC that will challenge powerful interests on Wall Street to better promote inclusive economic growth, while also protecting main street investors, pension plan participants, workers, and the communities in which we live.
Private equity pillaging of the retail industry has cost over half a million jobs amid over 18,000 store closures through February 2020, according to a new study, the first to examine job losses at the state level. The job losses occurred in every state, with more than 10,000 jobs lost in 20 states and more than 30,000 lost in California, Florida, and New York.
The FDIC’s ILC rule threatens state-level consumer protections, further erodes the traditional separation between banking and commerce, and jeopardizes the safety and soundness of the financial system and the economy as a whole.
Americans for Financial Reform joined ninety-five organizations and public interest leaders to send a letter calling on President-elect Joe Biden to embrace a bold and vigorous regulatory agenda to protect the public, workers and our environment, and help restore public trust in government.
In October, AFR joined 76 other organizations to call on Secretary DeVos to extend the federal student loan suspension. We are glad that Secretary DeVos has heeded this call, extending the suspension through the end of January 2021. But we still need a long term solution. We look forward to seeing the incoming Biden administration extend the federal student loan suspension even further, ensure all federal student loan borrowers are covered, and provide crucial relief to millions by cancelling federal student debt via executive action.
AFREF and 47 organizations submitted comments on the CFPB’s RFI on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B. Our comments urged the Bureau to take no action that would weaken the ECOA in any way and consider certain steps to improve and strengthen fair lending protections under ECOA to make it stronger and more effective tool for fighting credit discrimination.
Letter from 26 groups to the CFPB urging the agency to strengthen protections for LEP consumers in the next part of the debt collection rule.
The Treasury Secretary has the authority to drive an ambitious agenda for economic, racial, and climate justice, and to use financial regulation as an important tool of that work. As Yellen has herself noted in recent remarks, this moment of crisis has made it particularly clear that a new administration needs to not only undo the dangerous Trump administration deregulation of Wall Street, but also move well beyond the preceding status quo.
Kraninger should resign, but if she does not her record makes it overwhelmingly clear that the incoming administration needs to fire her as soon as President-Elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20 and replace her with an acting director who will steer the CFPB back to fulfilling its mission.