Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Google Removing Payday Loan Ads From Search Engine (NY Times)

“Google announced Wednesday that it would ban advertisements for payday loans and related products on its website, saying that they often lead to unaffordable repayment terms and financial harm to consumers… Lisa Donner, the executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, said in a statement that Google’s new standards would stop abusive lenders from marketing what she described as ‘debt-trap products that do serious and lasting harm to consumers.’”

AFR Statement: Google sets an important example on payday loan ads

“To its considerable credit, Google has decided to stop running search ads for debt-trap payday loans. This decision, which follows a similar announcement by Facebook last year, closes off an important avenue of customer recruitment for an industry that is doing more and more of its business online. Payday loans, whether made through physical or virtual storefronts, are engineered to suck people into long-term triple-digit-interest debt, making their financial problems worse, not better.”

Joint Letter: AFR and 7 allies call for crackdown on another private equity tax dodge

“Unlawful monitoring fee deductions… have been claimed by the private equity industry on an annual basis for many years… Hundreds of millions, if not billions, of tax revenue is lost each and every year of enforcement delay because of the statute of limitations. We hope and expect the IRS to actively, vigorously, and expeditiously enforce current law with respect to ongoing monitoring fee arrangements.”

Letter to Congress: AFR, 70 Organizations Urge Congress to Reject Any Legislation that Reduces the Authority of the CFPB to Regulate Forced Arbitration

“The undersigned organizations strongly urge the Appropriations Committees to reject all proposals to weaken the powers, structure, or funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau). And we are writing today to specifically urge the Committees to oppose any proposals that would limit, delay or remove the authority of the CFPB to take action on the use of pre-dispute binding mandatory arbitration – i.e., forced arbitration – in consumer financial contracts under its jurisdiction. “

Letter to Regulators: AFR Urges Dept of ED to Add Enforceable Borrower Protections to Servicing Contracts, Public Input to Solicitation Process

AFR wrote to the Department of Education and urged them to ensure their contracts with student loan servicers have strong protections for borrowers.

AFR Statement: A Major Step Toward Financial Industry Accountability

“’These clauses rob people not only of their constitutional right to go to court, but of the right to band together with others who have been damaged by the same corporate misconduct,’ said Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘Each victim is compelled to go it alone, even if the cost of taking action far exceeds the damages in any individual case. Because the process often bars the parties from going public with their stories, forced arbitration serves as a way for companies to keep evidence of wrongdoing under wraps.'”

Joint Statement: Consumer Advocates Applaud CFPB Arbitration Proposal

“Consumer advocates commend the CFPB for taking this crucial step to limit big banks’ and other financial companies’ efforts to escape accountability for breaking the law, and urge the agency to use the full force of its authority to restore consumers’ right to choose how to resolve disputes with financial institutions in this, and every, context in the final rule.”

AFR in the News: Could Courts Take Down the CFPB? (Bloomberg)

“The dispute over the CFPB is the latest attempt by business interests to limit the scope of Dodd-Frank. Backed by Wall Street and corporate lobbyists, Republicans in Congress have tried to roll back various provisions of the law. That effort has so far failed, and now the courts have become an alternative venue for the campaign. ‘The financial industry is using all the tools available to resist the regulation mandated under Dodd-Frank,’ says Brian Marshall, policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform…”

Letter to Congress: AFR, 52 Organizations Urge Congress to Reject S. 2970, An Impediment to Regulators Efforts to Detect Fraud and Money Laundering

“The undersigned community, consumer and civil rights organizations strongly oppose S. 2790, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2016, introduced by Senator Cruz. The bill will hamper critical Department of Justice and banking regulator efforts to detect fraud and money laundering, putting consumers and financial institutions at risk of serious financial loss. “

Joint Letter: AFR, 163 Groups Call for Strong CFPB Action Against Forced Arbitration

“Yesterday, 164 organizations that advocate on behalf of consumers, students, civil rights, labor, small business, and more, sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), urging the agency to use its Congressional authority to restrict forced arbitration – the abusive practice in which corporations bury “ripoff clauses” in the fine print of take-it-or-leave-it contracts to block consumers from challenging hidden fees, fraud, and other illegal behavior in court.”