“Putting the greed of campaign contributors ahead of the public interest, lawmakers are preparing to take a wrecking ball to reforms that addressed a devastating financial crisis and recession.”
“According to the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform, payday and title lenders spent more than $15 million on campaign contributions during the 2014 election cycle. The top recipient, with nearly $224,000 in donations from the industry, was the National Republican Congressional Committee. The largest individual recipient, with $210,500 in payday and title loan cash, was — you guessed it — Hensarling.”
“The [Hensarling] bill ‘would make it easier for Wall Street megabanks – plus other mortgage lenders, payday lenders, credit card companies and debt collectors . . . to make windfall profits by cheating people or putting the stability of the financial system at risk.’ That’s… from an email blast [the National Consumer Law Center] sent out in conjunction with Americans for Financial Reform.”
“When the CFPB was created in 2010 under the Dodd Frank Act, the appointment of an independent director was meant to help shield the agency from lobbying forces and powerful groups on Wall Street, says Brian Simmonds Marshall, policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform…”
“‘Without exception, the proposals we’ve seen to de-fund or restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are about making it less effective at doing its job,’ says Carter Dougherty, spokesman for Americans for Financial Reform… ‘All these proposed changes to the CFPB would do is make it easier for Wall Street and assorted predatory lenders to rip people off.'”
“Without exception, the proposals we’ve seen to de-fund or restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are about making it less effective at doing its job,” said Brian Marshall, policy counsel at AFR. “The agency has won relief worth $12 billion for 29 million Americans since it started work. All these proposed changes to the CFPB would do is make it easier for Wall Street and assorted predatory lenders to rip people off.”
“More than 100 members of organizations… met with government officials of both parties and their staffs to lobby against several laws proposed recently… Brian Simmonds Marshall, policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform, [said] , ‘We were very glad we had so many consumer advocates in Washington when these crucial issues to consumer protection are being actively considered by Congress…’”
“‘This rule will give consumers, including people who rely on prepaid debit cards instead of a bank account, the basic protections they need to manage their finances more safely and securely,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director at Americans for Financial Reform. ‘When people learned it was under threat, they made the case that this rule is important and workable, and it looks like enough lawmakers paid attention.'”
Today, a coalition of organizations representing workers, students, consumers, and borrowers delivered a petition with over 400,000 signatures calling on Congress to defend the crucial work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“We welcome the CFPB’s update of Regulation B, which implements the ECOA, and have joined in the comprehensive comments filed by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. More changes are needed to Regulation B, however, to give consumers stronger protections against discrimination in the credit marketplace.”