Americans for Financial Reform

AFR Statement: We Welcome the President’s Call for a “Student Aid Bill of Rights”

“AFR urges swift adoption of these changes, along with further measures to deal with the burden of student loan debt. The complaint system is one of a number of places we think steps can and should be taken ahead of the deadlines laid out by the Administration. While the Department is establishing a full system for dealing with complaints, which should be comprehensive, it should partner with the CFPB so that borrowers can immediately use that process to submit complaints about federal student loans (as they already can about private loans).”

AFR Statement: CFPB Makes a Compelling Case for Banning Forced Arbitration

“In its latest study of forced arbitration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) confirms what consumers and consumer advocates have long said about this practice: it is a private dispute system stacked against individuals seeking justice. AFR applauds the release of the CFPB’s report, and urges the Bureau to move forward swiftly with rulemaking to prohibit forced arbitration in consumer financial contracts.”

Letter to Congress: AFR Urges Congress to Protect Retirement Savings

AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to protect retirement savings and reject HR 1090. This legislation would significantly delay and possibly prevent the Department of Labor from proposing a rule addressing flaws in protections for retirement savings, protections that have not been updated for some forty years.

Letter to Regulator: AFR and Five Consumer Organizations Urge SEC to Protect Retail Investors

AFR and five other consumer advocacy organizations, sent a letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White detailing key investor protections that the SEC has failed to take, and urging Chair White to act on them.

Letter to Regulator: AFR and 9 other Organizations Urge SEC to Reconsider Membership of the Market Structure Advisory Committee

AFR and 9 other organizations sent a letter to Chair Mary Jo White expressing concern over the exclusion of Professor Joseph Stiglitz from the SEC Market Structure Advisory Committee. The letter urges the SEC to reconsider, or to provide more detail regarding how it arrived to its decision.

AFR in the News: A Practical Populist Wins High Praise at Treasury (CQ)

“One area where [Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom] Raskin has flexed her muscles is in a new drive to restrict executive compensation at the biggest banks… [T]he Dodd-Frank Act required federal regulators to prohibit pay packaged to bank executives that encouraged inappropriate risk-taking… The matter has been revived in recent months, in part because Raskin has made it a priority, pushing it with Lew and the President himself…”

“We’re very pleased that regulators seem to be returning to the drawing board and thinking about a rule that might actually have some impact,” says Lisa Donner, executive director of the liberal Americans for Financial Reform, adding that Raskin has been a “champion” on the issue.

Press Release: Joint Letter Warns Congress Against Measures to Weaken CFPB

In a joint letter to Congress, Americans for Financial Reform and 340 organizations–state, local and national consumer groups, civil rights groups, faith-based groups, housing groups, labor unions and others–warn against efforts to “dismantle, weaken, or change the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

Letter to Congress: AFR and 340 Organizations Urge Congress to Support the CFPB

AFR and 340 additional organizations sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose any efforts to dismantle, weaken, or change the structure of the CFPB, which was established by Congress to ensure that markets work in an open, transparent, and fair way for consumers. Failure to appropriately regulate the consumer financial marketplace was a central cause of the financial crisis that devastated the U.S. and global economies; the CFPB is a shining success story of the efforts to correct the mistakes and close the gaps that led to that failure. The letter urges members of Congress to support the CFPB in fulfilling its consumer protection mission, rather than undermine it.

Joint Letter: AFR Joins 15 Organizations in Supporting Low Income Families, Opposing HR 650

“H.R. 650 would not expand access to sustainable credit and would not serve the interests of homeowners and communities. Instead, this bill would undermine already vulnerable homeowners by stripping away protections created by Congress and implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

Joint Letter: AFR Joins 26 Allies in Applauding DOL’s Commitment to Fiduciary Rule

“As organizations that support strengthening protections for retirement savers, we write to thank you for sending a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to update and close loopholes in the 40-year-old rules that apply when individuals receive professional advice about retirement investments. Updating protections for retirement savers is urgently needed and long overdue.”