Lenders Lobby Federal Reserve Against Stricter Regulation
AFFIL Board Member, Irv Ackelsberg responds to "Lenders Fight Stricter Rules On Mortgages" NYT article.
(May 7,2008) It is not surprising that the same lenders and brokers who brought us
the subprime mortgage disaster are now lobbying against the relatively
mild proposals under consideration to regulate high-cost mortgage loans
(“Lenders Fight Stricter Rules on Mortgages,” front page, April 28).
What is surprising, and frankly shocking, is that the Federal Reserve
board, after all that has happened, may buy those anti-regulation
arguments once again. Deregulation of the American lending industry
deserves much of the blame for the subprime mortgage frenzy, and the
economic crash it produced. Read the full letter.
Banking Regulators Target Credit Card Abuses
AFFIL Partners say Rules Take Positive First Step to Rein in Unjust Interest Rate Hikes and Billing Practices; Call on Congress to Provide Additional Consumer Protections
(May 2, 2008) Representatives of national consumer organizations today applauded federal banking regulators for proposing initial rules to curb some abusive credit card lending practices. The groups also called on Congress to provide additional consumer protections not proposed by the regulators. The proposal was offered today by the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration. Among other things, the regulators could stop many unjustified interest rate hikes on existing balances, prohibit the charging of interest on debt already paid off and require issuers to allocate cardholder payments more fairly. Read more (PDF).
AFFIL Staff join Caveat Emptor Blog as Associate Editors
(April 30, 2008) Jim Campen and Sarah Byrnes have joined Caveat Emptor, a blog dedicated to law, politics, news and analysis from a consumer lawyer's perspective. The blog was founded by consumer attorney Sam Glover of Minneapolis, MN. Read Sarah's first post, Is the consumer movement a "horseless headman"?
Fed Meeting on Mortgage Mega-Merger
By Alan White, Consumer Law and Policy Blog
(April 23, 2008) A long list of community development and housing activists gathered
at the Chicago Fed’s meeting room this morning to testify about the
impact of Countrywide Mortgage Company on their communities. After Bank
of America’s customary recitation of its community lending,
philanthropic activities and employee volunteerism, Rev. Jesse Jackson
was the first public witness to take the microphone.
Rev. Jackson described Countrywide, the largest mortgage lender in
the U.S., as a symbol of the foreclosure crisis, Wall Street greed and
the steering of minority homeowners to high cost loans for profit, a
lending model he characterized as thievery and thuggery. Read more.
Ohio
Treasurer Richard Cordray Endorses the AFFIL Principles
(April 11, 2008) As Ohio’s Treasurer I believe strongly that all Ohioans must understand and be able to manage their own financial affairs. The six principles that Americans for Fairness in Lending have put forward are important to protect borrowers and I fully endorse them. Read Cordray's full statement.
Senate passes Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
(April 10, 2008) AFFIL Partners agree that the bill does little to help struggling homeowners (PDF). See how your Senators voted.
AFFIL congratulates James Scurlock, author and director of Maxed Out, on winning the 2008 Ridenhour Book Prize!
(April 8,2008) James D. Scurlock has been awarded the 2008
Ridenhour Book Prize which honors an outstanding work of social
significance from the prior publishing year. Scurlock’s book, Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit is a disturbing account of America’s unsustainable relationship with
debt, revealing the vulnerability of the average person to the
predatory and unethical lending methods of banks and credit card
companies.
Named for the
Vietnam era whistleblower Ron Ridenhour who exposed the truth of the My
Lai massacre, the Ridenhour Prizes recognize those who have spoken out
on behalf of the public interest, promoted social justice or
illuminated a more just vision of society. Read more.
Senate Throws Out Single Most Needed Step to Help Millions of
American Families Keep Their Homes
Senate votes 58-36 against the Durbin amendment; AFFIL Partners Issue Statement
(April 3, 2008) “The Senate Housing package misses the single most
significant step needed to help the 20,000 American families with subprime
loans that are losing their homes each week through foreclosure: the bankruptcy
amendment.
We are
left with a bill loaded with special considerations for mortgage companies and
builders that does very little for homeowners who were sold predatory loans by
mortgage lenders.
As the Senate bill stands, we will
continue to see foreclosures tear down communities and wipe out the most
important source of financial security that most Americans have.” Read the full statement (PDF). See how your Senators voted.
New York Times Editorial Calls for Regulation
EDITORIAL: Fear of Regulating
(April 3, 2008) To
understand the White House’s blueprint for regulating the financial
markets, start with what the Bush administration did not do. It did not
offer America a plan to respond to the ongoing credit crisis or to the
Federal Reserve’s dramatic intervention to prevent the collapse of Bear
Stearns. It certainly did not provide a roadmap for avoiding this sort
of meltdown in the future.
The Fed’s role in the Bear debacle has put taxpayers at risk of having
to shoulder big losses, but the administration’s so-called regulatory
reform does not address what the Bear mess made obvious: if something
goes badly wrong in under-regulated or unregulated corners of the
financial markets, it could topple the whole system. Read more.
Senate to debate Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
(April 2, 2008) The Senate voted 94 - 1 yesterday in a procedural vote to open formal debate on the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. The final version of the bill may or may not include crucial Title IV, formerly the "Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007," which helps Americans keep their homes when filing bankruptcy. AFFIL Partners support the bill, and in particular Title IV, stating: "The court-supervised modification provision is a commonsense solution that will help families save their homes without any cost to the U.S. Treasury, while ensuring that lenders recover at least what they would in foreclosure." Visit our Legislation Center for more information.
