AFREF joined a letter responding to a request for information from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy about how federal agencies can better support collaboration with other levels of government, civil society, and the research community regarding the production and use of equitable data.
AFREF joined 91 coalition partners in sending a letter to the CFPB in support of banning all medical debt from consumer credit reports. The letter asks the CFPB to take a step further and address this issue by beginning the rulemaking process to ban medical for medically necessary services.
AFR joined a letter supporting the nomination of Karla Gilbride to serve as General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
AFREF joined civil rights and consumer advocacy organizations in responding to the Appraisal Standards Board’s request for comment on the proposed changes to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice that would add nondiscrimination language to USPAP’s Ethics Rule. The letter recognizes the history and persistence of racial discrimination in appraisals and makes several specific recommendations for fighting discrimination in the appraisal process.
“If big banks are going to compare themselves to the worst offenders in payments, then they are already losing the argument,” said Renita Marcellin, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform. “Their entire argument is built around trying to distract us from their responsibility for fraud in services that they themselves offer their own customers,” she added.
Two SEC proposals have billionaire activist hedge funds up in arms and pulling out all the stops—including falsely claiming organized labor is opposed to the important proposals. Industry opponents will showcase their disdain at an upcoming Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting scheduled for Sept. 21.
Elyse Hicks, consumer policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive nonprofit, said people may not consider seriously enough whether they’ll still be able to afford payments down the road. “Because of inflation, people may think, ‘I’m going to have to get what I need and pay for it later in these installments,’” she said. “But are you still going to be able to afford the things you’re affording now six months from now?”
The Carlyle Group, Warburg Pincus, and KKR are the top three offenders on climate among private equity firms, continuing to invest in polluting industries and exposing investors to significant climate-related risk, according to a new scorecard developed by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF).
Carlyle is rated F, the lowest in the climate credentials scorecard that has been created by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (Pesp) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (Afref). “The scorecard provides important information and analysis that can help investors and communities understand what these firms are doing, and makes very clear that the firm’s climate commitments are largely empty words,” said Oscar Valdes Viera, research manager at Afref and co-author of the climate risks scorecard.
The SEC’s regulatory agenda is under attack, and Chair Gary Gensler is appearing before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow. This memo for the media addresses the SEC’s work across eight different areas.