In The News: How to Buy a Regulation in Six Short Months (The American Prospect)

Under the rule, a borrower would have to sign a notice authorizing the lender to withdraw from the account after those two consecutive failures. “If I was smart, I would only sign that if there was money in there,” says Linda Jun, a policy counsel with Americans for Financial Reform, a regulatory and consumer protection coalition. “Aside from getting charged more for a negative balance, banks close bank accounts over this stuff, you could lose access to banking entirely.”

a student with books - Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

AFR, 56 Orgs support S.J. Res 56 to disapprove DeVos Borrower Defense rule

AFR joined 65 other organizations to write in support of S.J.Res. 56 and H.J.Res.76 to undo Education Secretary DeVos’ 2019 Borrower Defense to Repayment rule. The DeVos rule gutted the Obama Administration’s 2016 rule that added further protections to students who are entitled to debt cancellation after their schools broke the law. An analysis of the Department’s own calculations estimates that only 3 percent of the loans that result from school misconduct would be cancelled under the new rule. Schools would be held accountable for reimbursing taxpayers for just 1 percent of these loans.

In The News: It’s Time for Congress to Do Something About the Economic Mess that Private Equity Giants Have Created (Business Insider)

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz: “[A] recent study by groups including Americans for Financial Reform found that private-equity bankruptcies in the retail industry alone cost 600,000 jobs. One of those laid off, Giovanna De La Rosa, told of her experiences in this publication. The best outcome would be fewer bankruptcies, but when they happen, the welfare of workers needs to be at the top of the list, not at the bottom.”

Event: Convening on Fund Regulation

AFR held a day-long convening of experts to discuss emerging issues in the SEC regulation of registered investment companies (mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds that are registered under the 1940 Act).

News Release: AFR Cheers Introduction of Legislation Eliminating Opportunity Zone Tax Giveaway

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced groundbreaking and essential legislation to repeal the deeply flawed Opportunity Zone tax break passed as part of the 2017 tax cut legislation. In addition to the basic problems with this tax break for the wealthy, multiple media exposés have already found that the rules have been bent to include parcels that benefitted high-rolling real estate investors, including those with ties to the Trump administration.

Letters to Regulators: Joint letter to the SEC urging Chairman Clayton to withdraw anti-investor guidance that would undermine independent audits of public companies.

View or download a PDF version of the letter. Consumer Federation of America AFL-CIO Better Markets Center for American Progress Americans for Financial Reform November 21, 2018 Dear Chairman Clayton: We are writing to express our grave concerns regarding PCAOB staff guidance on Rule 3526(b),