WASHINGTON – The predatory lending practices of EasyPay Finance and Utah-based, FDIC-supervised Transportation Alliance Bank (TAB Bank) are hurting military servicemembers, veterans, and their families, according to a new report from a coalition of consumer advocacy groups released in advance of Memorial Day.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Paycheck Protection Program, a critical pillar of the CARES Act pandemic relief legislation, failed to equitably distribute money despite an avowed goal of focusing on small businesses, according to a new report from seven public interest organizations and labor unions.
In addition to adopting other reforms for future relief programs, the U.S. Small Business Administration should use its statutory power to claw back improperly issued or misused loans. Those cases might include PPP loan recipients who failed to spend at least 60% of their loan proceeds on employee wages, and cases where recipients used the money to issue stockholder dividends, buy back stock, or award executive bonuses.
The Paycheck Protection Program, a critical pillar of the CARES Act pandemic relief legislation, failed to equitably distribute money despite an avowed goal of focusing on small businesses, according to a new report from AFREF and six other public interest organizations and labor unions.
AFREF and Demand Progress submitted a letter in response to the Federal Reserve’s Request for Information on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). In the submission, we urge the Fed to consider privacy and fraud protection, and also point to other alternatives to CBDC the Fed could pursue to promote broader financial inclusion.
In today’s polarized environment, it’s refreshing to see the banking industry and consumer advocacy organizations in agreement over the fact that industrial loan corporations or industrial banks only serve as a loophole for large companies to own a bank. These odd bedfellows range from the Center for Responsible Lending, Americans for Financial Reform and the Woodstock Institute on one end, to the Bank Policy Institute, PNC and the Independent Community Bankers of America on the other.
A new report finds that the private equity industry owned close to 700 utility-scale power generation facilities in the United States in 2021 that emitted about 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Private equity investment firms have quietly bought up close to 700 predominantly fossil fuel-fired electric power plants, making these Wall Street investment houses major greenhouse gas emitters.
WASHINGTON – Today, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups sent letters to major national auto repair chains AAMCO and Precision Tune Auto Care (Icahn Enterprises), Big O Tires and Midas (TBC Corporation), Grease Monkey (FullSpeed Automotive), JiffyLube, and Meineke (Driven Brands) urging their stores and franchisees to stop offering financing through EasyPay Finance and Utah-based TAB Bank, which issue loans at rates up to 189%, even in states where that rate is illegal. The letters can be found here.
AFR led a letter from a broad coalition of 33 groups representing civil rights, financial reform, and consumer advocate groups in support of H.R. 5912 the “Close the ILC Loophole Act.”
In the more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, Black American wealth remains a fraction of that held by White Americans. Just after emancipation in 1865, African Americans owned 0.5% of national wealth. While closing this divide is essential to achieving racial equity in this country, it’s important that we apply the right tools for the job. We can’t properly solve problems without understanding their origins. The growing divide between White wealth and Black wealth is a product of economic systems designed to extract wealth from Black, Indigenous, and other people of color and redirect it to the wealthy, almost uniformly White elite.