a student with books - Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Joint Statement: 103 Organizations Agree – Congress Needs to Cancel Student Debt

Today, 103 civil rights, consumer and advocacy organizations and think tanks sent a joint letter to House and Senate leadership, urging them to include student debt cancellation in the next economic stimulus package.

Led by American for Financial Reform, Demos, Center for Responsible Lending and Freedom to Prosper, the letter stresses the ways that if left unaddressed, the student debt trap will deepen our current recession, slow our economic recovery, exacerbate inequality, and deepen a crisis already facing black and brown borrowers and families.

News Release: Improve Fed Facility to Help States and Municipalities Handle Coronavirus Crisis

States and localities provide critical public services, and more than 1.5 million state and local jobs have been lost since February. Without credit support like that which should be provided by this Facility, deeper job losses and service cuts can be expected as states grapple with unprecedented fiscal challenges in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Supporting states and localities is critical for economic recovery and for assisting communities impacted by the dual public health and economic crisis we face.

Protestor demands financial reform.

Webinar: A Decade after Dodd-Frank: What Next?

SAVE THE DATES — July 17, July 20, Aug. 4, and more Webinar Series A Decade after Dodd-Frank: What Next? Building a Just Financial System Ten years ago this month, Congress passed, and President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer

JOINT STATEMENT: How to get help with your mortgage during COVID-19

The following organizations have made this important information available in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Bangla and English: AFR Language Access Task Force, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Action, Empire Justice Center, National CAPACD, National Consumer Law Center, National Fair Housing Alliance, and UnidosUS.

sign for the CFPB outside a building

NEWS RELEASE: Rollback of Payday Protections Enables Predator Profiteering Amid Health Crisis

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathleen Kraninger, today announced the agency will strip out the core of a rule written and finalized under previous leadership that would shield consumers from debt trap payday and car-title loans. The decision will leave millions of people vulnerable to grave financial abuses at a time of economic crisis, and will harm people of color who are suffering higher rates of illness and of unemployment, and whom this industry targeted even before the pandemic.  

Webinar: A Decade of Dodd-Frank

Lisa Donner, executive director of AFR-EF spoke at a conference hosted by the Brookings Institution and the Center on Finance, Law & Policy at the University of Michigan dedicated to the landmark Dodd-Frank law, its impact on systemic risk and consumer protection, and the response to the COVID-19 crisis in both domestic and global contexts.

eagle statue outside a federal reserve bank

Statement: AFR on the Fed’s “Broad Market Index” for the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the initial composition of the index they will be using to purchase corporate bonds through its Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF). The corporations included in their June 5 “Broad Market Index” raise serious concerns about public benefit, solvency, and further incentivizing companies to take on additional debt unnecessarily.