Americans for Financial Reform

News Release: New Legislation Needed to Curb Private Equity Abuses

The Stop Wall Street Looting Act of 2024 includes new measures to curb the growing power of private equity across the board and in key sectors of the economy like healthcare, and to penalize private equity firms and executives for their actions that harm a company and its workers even after they no longer control it. Lessons from the 2023 collapse of Steward Health Care, which stemmed from its 2010 buyout by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, shaped the new provisions.

AFREF Supports Campaign to Lower Home Energy Costs through FHFA Adoption of Energy Efficiency Standards

Since fall 2023, AFREF and partners have been part of an ongoing Campaign for Lower Home Energy Costs. The goal is for The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to require new homes with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be built to

Letters to the Regulators: Letter in Support of Providing Relief and Protections Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to Victims of Coerced Debt

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) submitted a comment letter supporting a petition from the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide relief to victims of coerced debt under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The petition would provide critically needed relief to victims of coerced debt (a form of economic abuse) and further protect people who are survivors of intimate partner violence.

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Blog: Can Ordering a Pizza Invalidate Your Fundamental Rights?

Last week, a New Jersey court ruled that a couple who had been seriously injured in an accident riding in an Uber forfeited their right to sue Uber because their 12-year-old had clicked on a pop-up box in order to track her Uber Eats pizza order a year earlier. The food delivery app contained a forced arbitration clause that the court said invalidated their right to hold Uber accountable in court.

Memo to Banking Regulators Recommending Further Guidance on Climate-Related Financial Risk Mitigation, Fair Lending, & Climate Investment Opportunities

AFREF authored a memo endorsed by nine partner organizations, which highlights opportunities for financial institutions to mitigate climate-related financial risk in a way that doesn’t violate fair lending and supports communities while building resilience through Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) opportunities.

In the News: Private Equity Firms Ploughing Billions Into Fossil Fuels, Analysis Reveals

Researchers at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Global Energy Monitor and Private Equity Stakeholder Project assessed the holdings of 21 private equity firms, overseeing a combined $6tn in assets under management.

News Release: New Effort to Curb Erroneous Medical Debt Collections Protects Families

Biden administration efforts to address challenges created by medical debt, highlighted at a White House meeting today, will curb its harmful impacts, including distorted credit reports and abusive collection practices. The impacts are a widespread problem for millions of people, but disproportionately harm communities of color.

News Release: Private Equity Holdings in Fossil Fuels Spew Gigaton of Carbon Annually

The 2024 Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard studied 21 private equity firms that manage $6 trillion worth of companies, and found that two-thirds of the energy companies in their portfolios are invested in fossil fuels, using hundreds of millions of dollars from pension funds. Their gigaton of carbon emissions is over three times as much as from the energy used to power all the homes in America and exceeds those of the global aviation industry.

Blog: Opaque Private Credit Industry Threatens Heavy Debt Burdens, Systemic Risk

Problems are brewing in a scheme that is bigger than the Australian economy and almost completely without federal oversight. It is called private credit — large scale lending, but not by banks — and has surged from less than $300 billion in loans in 2013 to over $2.1 trillion globally today. This unregulated market has become yet another tool for the private equity industry to pursue leveraged buyouts and leaves target companies on the hook to repay the new mountains of debt. If this large pool of unregulated loans go sour, the distress could spread into the broader financial system, including traditional banks, and pose systemic risk to the financial system.

In The News: Postal Service Plan Writes off Rural America to Save a Buck (The Daily Yonder)

“Congress should pressure Postmaster General DeJoy and the USPS Board of Governors to reverse course, and instead of another mail slow down, reinstate the 2012 mail delivery service standards. They must not stray even one step away from USPS’s universal service obligation: to deliver the mail to everyone, in every ZIP code. USPS is a public service for all, and a lifeline for many, especially rural America.”