“From the beginning of this republic, even the most humble citizen was entitled to their day in court and a fair hearing. And at no point, until the creation of forced arbitration did someone say, ‘Hey you can have a right to your day in court except when your complaint is about a big corporation,” said Christine Chen Zinner, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform.
NEW YORK – Today, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced a commitment to exclude new pension investments in private equity-backed fossil fuel midstream and downstream companies and projects, addressing a significant loophole in the funds’ Net-Zero Implementation Plan. This makes NYCERS, NYCTRS, and NYCBERS – three of New York City public pensions representing $207 billion in assets – the first-in-the-nation to make such a commitment, setting precedent for funds across the country and around the world to follow suit.
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized its Personal Financial Data Rights proposal, a long-overdue measure that can help create a more consumer-friendly and competitive financial services marketplace.
AFREF submitted a comment letter supporting the National Consumer Law Center’s petition urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to define residential real estate leases as “credit” and landlords as “creditors” under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. This petition for rulemaking addresses important components of the ongoing legacy of structural racism in credit and residential housing for people of color seeking rental leases to shelter their families and build a foundation for economic stability.
AFREF, Consumer Federation of America, Prof. Arthur Wilmarth, Jr. and Center for Responsible Lending submitted a comment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation supporting the effort to strengthen the oversight of industrial loan companies (ILCs). The proposed rule would heighten scrutiny of new ILCs or attempts to take over existing ILCs that will more fully consider the unique risks of these banks.
New report recommends financial and trade reforms to improve data and accountability on financial flows and help close the climate finance gaps in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Con artists are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency in scams that target older people, accelerating the already surging elder fraud in the United States. Cryptocurrency’s role in elder fraud is exploding, costing older people billions of dollars annually, emptying retirement funds, life savings and the ability to cover daily expenses or enjoy their retirement.
It also has the support of labor and financial-policy groups, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and National Nurses United. Lisa Donner, executive director of financial watchdog group Americans for Financial Reform, said the bill “takes important, much-needed steps to rein in Wall Street predatory practices and promote a more just and sustainable economy.”
Cryptocurrency promises a high-tech opportunity to make buckets of money, but like most get-rich-quick schemes, rip-offs are ubiquitous. The crypto industry is rife with scams, hustles akin to stock swindles, cyberbreaches, and other crimes that can easily separate investors and consumers from their money.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent enforcement action against Ejudicate, a forced arbitration platform, highlights the urgent need to restrain a practice that hurts millions of consumers. The agency found Ejudicate had misled student borrowers about its neutrality in arbitration and illegally started sham forced arbitrations against those borrowers.