Letters to Regulators: AFR submitted a comment on new Federal Reserve rating system for large institutions
AFR sent a comment letter to the Federal Reserve Board on the proposed new rating system for supervision of large financial institutions.
Congressional Testimony: AFR Submits Statement Re House Financial Services Hearing on Derivatives Regulation
AFR submitted a statement to the Capital Markets Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee regarding a 2/14/18 hearing examining eleven different proposed bills affecting regulation of derivatives markets. Final AFR Statement For 2-14 Derivatives Hearing
Letters to Congress: AFR Urges Opposition to HR 3978 — A Bill Harming Investors and Consumers
AFR sent a letter urging House members to vote “No” on H.R. 3978 — a grab bag of bad legislative ideas that would weaken SEC oversight of Wall Street and undermine consumers, investors rights and protections.
AFR Statement: Administration Seeks Sabotage of CFPB Via Budget, ‘Strategic Plan’
“The administration’s budget and Mick Mulvaney’s ‘strategic plan’ for the CFPB are transparent attempts to stop the agency from doing what it was designed to do: actually protect consumers.”said Lisa Donner, executive director, Americans for Financial Reform.
Joint Letters: AFR and other 80 national, state and local organizations support the SAFE Lending Act of 2018.
The Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic (SAFE) Lending Act of 2018 is important legislation that will help safeguard consumers and law-abiding lenders from abuses rampant today in consumer lending.
Joint Statement: Sen. Jeff Merkley, Rev. Willie Gable Jr. Condemn Ongoing Sabotage of CFPB, Demand Pres. Trump Nominate Consumer Advocate as Director
“Under the Trump administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has become the Payday Predator Protection Bureau,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon). “Trump and his allies are blatantly trying to dismantle the bureau from the inside. If this isn’t a crystal clear example of the Trump administration governing of, by, and for the powerful rather than of, by, and for the people, then I don’t know what is.”
AFR in the News: Trump-appointed CFPB head eases up on Equifax probe (New York Post)
“This isn’t the first drastic turnaround for the CFPB under Mulvaney. Last month, the agency canned rules that made it harder for payday lenders to make high-interest loans — and automatically pull funds — from borrowers. ‘Mick Mulvaney wants to let Equifax off the hook for its reckless abuse and negligence that may have a lasting impact on millions of Americans,’ [said] Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.”
AFR Statement: Report Mulvaney Backing Away from Equifax Probe Shows Need for Credible CFPB Director
It’s one more reason why it’s so important to have someone with a track record of protecting consumers running the CFPB, not someone who wants to destroy its work.
AFR in the News: Payday Rules Relax on Trump’s Watch After Lobbying by Lenders (New York Times)
“‘Payday lenders are clearly watching this with bated breath,’ said José Alcoff, manager of the Stop the Debt Trap campaign at Americans for Financial Reform. ‘I think this is clearly a case where the system is getting more and more rigged, where they have, as they say, the fox in charge of the henhouse.’”
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.”