Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been largely shut down by Elon Musk’s team and Acting Director Russell Vought, pulled the plug on a lawsuit against an online lender, SoLo Funds, that the agency had alleged was deceiving borrowers and imposing deceptive fees on more than half a million borrowers.
Earlier today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a proposal that brings much needed oversight and supervision to large providers of digital wallets and payment apps, also known as peer-to-peer or P2P apps.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) submitted comments this week calling on regulators to more closely supervise partnerships between banks and independent banking-as-a-service (BaaS) companies that pose unique and serious risks for consumers.
The crypto industry paints a picture of crypto as a tool for financial inclusion and economic prosperity. However, when one looks at the actual numbers, the industry’s record tells quite a different story – one of fraud, crime, scams, and economic hardship. Straightforward facts and figures outline the scope and scale of financial loss and harm that the crypto industry has inflicted on consumers and investors in the U.S. and around the world.
Americans for Financial Reform made the following comments on item marked up by the House Financial Services Committee yesterday, On the bills related to climate and financial regulation, On the bills related to fintech regulation, On the bills related to systemic risk
Washington, D.C. – New Congressional hearings today on crypto regulation will likely fail to adequately address the many risks that the industry posed to consumers, investors and financial markets by crypto assets and actors, according to advocates with Americans for Financial Reform and Demand Progress.
AFREF and Demand Progress Education Fund submitted comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in response to the agency’s request for information regarding the risks, limitations and purported benefits of blockchain technology (including regarding central bank digital currencies), to help inform the government’s research and development agenda on blockchain. The submission raised concerns about the technological limits and risks of blockchain as used for both financial and non-financial applications, as well as a variety of risks, and urged the OSTP to take a more balanced and sober look at blockchain in view of these limitations.
AFREF joined experts in the field in submitting comments calling on the FHFA Office of Financial Technology to ensure that new applications of fintech to housing finance do not violate consumer protections or fair housing violations. Specific recommendations are made to avoid algorithmic bias and e-signature fraud, along with a general principle of caution when approving new fintech practices.
AFR’s Senior Policy Analyst Renita Marcellin testified at the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Financial Technology’s hearing “What’s in Your Digital Wallet? A Review of Recent Trends in Mobile Banking and Payments.”
Washington, D.C. — A broad coalition of bank and credit union associations and consumer organizations submitted a letter today to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services urging passage of the Close the ILC Loophole Act, introduced by Representatives Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Lance Gooden (R-TX).