“The {Wells Fargo and Equifax) scandals put a human face on the practice of companies forcing customer disputes through a secret, non-judicial process… Americans for Financial Reform addressed this directly in a video featuring a woman with disabilities and a veteran, who were ripped off by Wells Fargo and then prevented from a day in court because of an arbitration clause. To pursue such cases, which typically involve small amounts of money, through arbitration, victims need to spend heavily on legal representation and hearings. As federal Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals once wrote in a ruling, ‘The realistic alternative to a class action is not 17 million individual suits, but zero individual suits, as only a lunatic or a fanatic sues for $30.’”
“Oversight of payday loans is particularly lax in Ohio… State voters approved reforms in 2008, but the industry found ways around the restrictions on interest rates and other measures designed to protect borrowers… ‘Payday and car title lenders profit from repeatedly dragging hard-pressed people deeper and deeper into debt, and taking advantage of families when they are financially vulnerable,’ Lisa Donner, with Americans for Financial Reform, told the Associated Press. ‘Curbing the ability to push loans that borrowers clearly cannot repay is a key protection.'”
“Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, expressed concern about the report’s guidance. ‘The recommendations are “almost uniformly deregulatory.’ he said. ‘It is written pretty technically, but what they are saying is that a lot of things that were done after the crisis to try increase our safety margins and improve our risk control on derivatives they want to cut back on.’”
“Consumer advocates say tougher rules are needed because lenders often prey on desperate borrowers who are living paycheck to paycheck by trapping them in debt. ‘Payday and car title lenders profit from repeatedly dragging hard-pressed people deeper and deeper into debt, and taking advantage of families when they are financially vulnerable,’ Lisa Donner, the Americans for Financial Reform’s executive director, said in a statement. ‘Curbing the ability to push loans that borrowers clearly cannot repay is a key protection.’”
“A federal regulator announced new restrictions Thursday on the payday lending industry, a move that is likely to face resistance in Congress. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s finalized rules largely reflect what the agency proposed last year. They are the first nationwide regulation of the industry, which had largely been left to the states.”
“A person dressed as the Monopoly Man (aka ‘Uncle Pennybags’) landed some prime real estate at a Senate banking committee hearing, seated behind Equifax CEO Richard Smith in a live-action photobombing… Amanda Werner [of Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen] walked into the committee hearing with a giant ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card for Equifax and Wells Fargo, with the statement ‘forced arbitration lets financial institutions escape accountability for wrongdoing.’”
