Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Trump administration strips consumer watchdog office of powers over lending discrimination (Washington Post)

“The Trump administration has stripped enforcement powers from a [CFPB] unit responsible for pursuing discrimination cases, part of a broader effort to reshape an agency it criticized as acting too aggressively… ‘These changes . . . threaten effective enforcement of civil rights laws, and increase the likelihood that people will continue to face discriminatory access and pricing as they navigate their economic lives,’ Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, said in a statement.”

Letter to Regulators: AFR Calls on Federal Reserve to Strengthen Bank Stress Tests

AFR sent the below letter to the Federal Reserve commenting on a package of proposals for stress test transparency AFR Comment on Stress Test Proposal Package

Joint Statement: Transfer of CFPB Consumer Response Unit Offers No Clear Benefit

Consumer Response has essentially been an independent office housed in the Operations Division. As such, its research on consumer complaint trends has been equally available to all divisions and offices, including, for example, Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending; Research, Markets and Regulations; and Consumer Education and Engagement. Is this transfer designed to diminish the Consumer Response unit’s important role in helping all units of the agency collect and understand the ongoing complaints that consumers raise? What benefit does this transfer provide consumers and will this relocation affect the Complaint unit’s budget?

Joint Statement: Changes to CFPB Fair Lending Office Undermine Anti-Discrimination Work

Fair Lending is a fundamentally important part of the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and of a financial system that works for families and communities. The Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity needs the authority, the resources, and the connections to key levers of change to do its job.

AFR Statement: Appeals Court Decision Knocks Out Longstanding Argument Against CFPB Single Director

Charging that the single director structure — which helps make the bureau an effective consumer regulator, if that director is committed to the public interest — was unconstitutional evolved into a mainstay of attacks from Wall Street, predatory lenders, and their friends in Congress and the administration.

TOWS Brief: Wall Street Makes Bank on Trump

On the first anniversary of the Trump administration, the Take on Wall Street coalition catalogs the ways that Wall Street made bank on Trump in 2017.

AFR Statement: Trump Year One Full of Gifts to Wall Street

From tax cuts to deregulation to changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the first year of the Trump administration has been a boon to Wall Street at the expense of ordinary Americans.

TOWS Statement: Wall Street Makes Bank on Trump: 2017 in Review

The report includes facts about lobbying spending that hit $2 billion in the last election cycle, and continues unabated, Wall Street executives in the Trump administration and regulatory agencies, tax cut windfalls for the finance industry, and a deregulatory free-for-all. It also includes a case study of how Wells Fargo’s outrageous conduct somehow earned it the distinction of being the biggest winner from the Trump-Republican tax bill.

AFR in the News: Democrats need to stand with working Americans vs. big banks (Washington Post)

“Under current law, banks with more than $50 billion in assets are considered ‘systemically important financial institutions’ and therefore are subject to extra scrutiny. The Senate bill would lift that threshold to $250 billion, relaxing oversight of 25 of the 38 largest banks in the country. According to Americans for Financial Reform, those banks are collectively responsible for $3.5 trillion in assets and received nearly $50 billion in bailout money during the financial crisis.”

Stop the Debt Trap Statement: Mulvaney Ends CFPB Investigation into Campaign Contributor

““When Mick Mulvaney was a member of Congress, the World Acceptance Corporation gave more campaign contributions to him than any other member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, as acting director of the Consumer Bureau, Mulvaney showed his gratitude by dismissing a four-year investigation into deceptive practices the company has used to trap consumers into debt. Mulvaney’s actions leave no doubt where his priorities lie – campaign friends over consumers.”