Americans for Financial Reform

Letter to Regulator: AFR Comments to Basel Committee On Bank Transparency

“Given the complexity of the regulations now applying to global banks, a comprehensive new set of disclosures is absolutely necessary in order to help both investors and civil society organizations such as ourselves understand bank activities. A clear and consistent set of public disclosures should also be helpful for financial regulators, who under the U.S. system do not always have access to bank supervisory data that may be relevant to the markets they oversee.”

AFR Statement: Financial deregulation is House majority’s answer to all problems

“Speaker Ryan’s plan to ‘Grow the Economy’ would roll back consumer protections affecting everything from subprime mortgages to payday loans, empower Wall Street lawyers to overturn financial regulatory rules in dozens of new ways, and eliminate post-crisis regulatory powers to control risks at the giant ‘too big to fail’ institutions that dominate Wall Street.”

AFR IN THE NEWS: Obama administration issues rules to overhaul student debt forgiveness

“‘We’re disappointed that the department is replacing the current state law standard with a federal standard that won’t be as comprehensive for borrowers that live in states with strong consumer protection laws,’ said Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at the progressive Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR Statement: The Department of Education’s Proposed Rule on Borrower Defense to Repayment

“For years, advocates have urged the Department of Education to relieve the staggering debt of students who attended for-profit colleges like Corinthian which broke the law. Today, the Department released a forward-looking proposal outlining how students who were victims of illegal acts by their school may pursue a ‘borrower defense to repayment,’ or cancellation of the debt on their federal student loans. We look forward to working with the Department to improve the final proposal so that all students victimized by unlawful and deceptive conduct receive every penny of relief they deserve.”

Letter to Regulators: AFR, 71 Orgs Submit Comment on proposed student loan “Payback Playbook”

“We commend the agencies for their work in compiling this series of potential borrower communications – the
Student Loan Payback Playbooks. It benefits borrowers, servicers, and the agencies to ensure that
federal student loan borrowers are aware of options that will make their student loan payments
affordable and allow them to remain current on their loans.”

AFR Statement: House Appropriations Bill Would Undermine Financial Reform

“The House Appropriations Committee has approved a funding bill packed with riders that would roll back financial reform and undermine consumer protection. These ideological policy provisions have no business being added to such a measure. “

AFR Policy Director, Marcus Stanley, Testimony Before Small Business Committee

“Today’s hearing asks us to consider the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on small banks. I want to make two broad points. First, community banks face economic headwinds that are unrelated to Dodd-Frank, connected both to long-term trends and to the effects of the financial crisis itself. Second, the big picture is that community banks have returned to profitability under Dodd-Frank. In 2015, over 95% of community banks earned a profit – up from just 78% in 2010, the year Dodd-Frank was passed.”

AFR Statement: Hensarling Plan Would Dramatically Weaken Financial Regulation

“[T]his plan doesn’t get tough on banks; it gets tough on the regulators policing them. It would dramatically weaken their ability to do their jobs, and make it correspondingly easier for Wall Street banks, shadow banks, and lending companies to profit by ripping off consumers and engaging in reckless and dangerous short term speculation, rather than by providing loans, capital, and financial services on fair and transparent terms.”

Letter to Regulators: AFR Supports Strong Consumer Protections in FCC Robocalls Rule

Because of the significant harm caused by these robocalls from debt collectors, AFR is very supportive of the consumer protections proposed by the FCC in this rulemaking. The Commission has also proposed two other very important provisions that we think are good, but that need to be improved — including narrowing its limit of three allowable calls per month per loan to three calls per month per servicer.

Letter to Congress: AFR Opposes FSGG Appropriations Bill

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), we are writing to oppose the current draft of the Appropriations bill on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG).
At the end of last year Congress wisely rejected multiple efforts to use the budget process to force through unrelated ideological riders, including changes in financial regulation that would undermine consumer protections, endanger financial security, and reduce accountability for large financial institutions. “