Americans for Financial Reform

Letter to Congress: AFR Calls on the House Financial Services Committee to Let the SEC Do Its Job, Oppose the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to express our opposition to the “SEC Regulatory Accountability Act”. Despite the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is already subject to extensive statutory economic analysis requirements, and has greatly increased its investment in economic analysis in recent years, this legislation would impose a host of unworkable new bureaucratic and administrative burdens on the agency. “

Letter to Congress: AFR Urges Members of the House Financial Services Committee to Protect Investors and Oppose the Investment Advisors Modernization Act

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to express our opposition to the “Investment Advisors Modernization Act of 2016”. Far from modernizing the regulation of investment advisors, this legislation would roll back the clock to the years before private fund advisors were subject to elementary oversight measures, measures that numerous documented abuses have shown to be necessary for investor protection. “

Letter to Congress: AFR, 26 Organizations Oppose Inclusion of Discriminatory Auto Lending Language in Appropriations Bill

“We, the undersigned organizations, ask you to oppose harmful riders to the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) fiscal year 2017 appropriations that would obstruct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to protect consumers. In particular, we urge you to oppose language mirroring S. 2663, the so-called “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act.” “

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.”