In an astounding first, the Trump-appointed leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has requested that a federal court reverse a racial discrimination settlement that the agency had previously reached with Townstone Financial, a Chicago-based mortgage lender.
Tuesday afternoon, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte sent out a flurry of orders via tweets containing photographs of documents, including rescission of its Advisory Bulletin on Climate-Related Risk Management (Climate Risk AB) and waiver of Equitable Housing Finance Plan (EHFP) requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises).
The Senate majority advanced the agenda of the nation’s biggest banks by voting for a Congressional Review Act resolution to roll back the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) cap on sky-high overdraft fees. The CFPB safeguard would lower these charges at big banks from $35 to $5, saving families and service members across the nation $5 billion each year, or roughly $225 per household impacted by overdraft fees.
The Senate Banking Committee should oppose the nomination of Paul Atkins to serve as Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is a deeply flawed nominee who supported industry-backed deregulation as a prior commissioner that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Christine Chen Zinner, a senior lawyer at Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive advocacy group, called the consumer bureau’s attempt to overturn the settlement “bananacakes.” The appellate panel’s unanimous decision that the fair-lending law applied was a clear signal that the case had merit, she said.
The passage of Delaware Senate Bill 21 – the Billionaires’ Bill – endangers the retirement security of millions of families across the country. A coalition of consumer and investor groups including Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, and the Consumer Federation of America opposed the legislation as did the largest retirement funds in the United States.
The House Financial Services Committee Financial Institutions Subcommittee convened a hearing today that will do little but air the grievances of the banking lobby over the highly effective work done by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to prevent another financial crisis, and for the past 14 years it has diligently served the public, held financial firms accountable, cracked down on junk fees, and protected people from financial rip-offs. The vehemence of the Wall Street, Big Tech, and predatory financial industry’s attacks on the CFPB are a testament to its effectiveness in successfully standing up for people.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment in support of the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed 6(b) study of large-scale single family home investors and the Commission’s plan to publicly disseminate information about homes owned by “mega investors,” defined as entities that own over 1,000 single family rental homes.
Americans for Financial Reform submitted a letter opposing several legislative proposals being considered at the House Financial Services Committee hearing “Beyond Silicon Valley: Expanding Access to Capital Across America.” Weakening investor protections in the name of capital formation threatens market integrity and exposes smaller, retail investors to unnecessary risk.