Press Contact
Geoffrey Knox
Office: 212-229-0540
Mobile: 917-414-1749
gknox@geoffreyknox.com
Press Releases
NEW RADIO ADS URGE CONSUMERS TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST HOME FORECLOSURES AND PREDATORY LENDING IN KANSAS
Date:
2008-05-12
(May 12, 2008) Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL) is launching a new radio advertising campaign today highlighting the devastating impact predatory lending is having on residents of Kansas. Thirty- and 60-second spots are airing during drive time on major radio stations in the Kansas City area declaring that predatory lending is a “Man-Made Disaster.” The ads highlight the fact that Kansas property values have fallen by over $200 million in the foreclosure crisis. In conjunction with an interactive online campaign at http://www.affil.org, the radio spots reveal that Congress, especially some of Kansas’ own elected representatives, are notprotecting homeowners and consumers from predatory lending practices. “Kansans are getting hit hard by the subprime mortgage crisis, and they’re suffering as a direct result of abusive, predatory lending practices,” said AFFIL Executive Director Jim Campen. “Our ‘Man-Made Disaster’ radio campaign is part of local and national efforts to educate consumers about how Congress is failing to protect Americans from toxic mortgages, payday loan rip-offs and sky-high credit card interest rates and fees.”
Senator Hillary Clinton Joins Senators Obama and Edwards in Endorsing AFFIL's Principles of Fair Lending
Date:
2008-01-28
Democratic Presidential Candidates Stand Up For Consumers Against Predatory Lending Practices; Republican Candidates Yet to Respond: (January 28, 2008) With Hillary Clinton’s endorsement today of Americans for Fairness in Lending’s (AFFIL) Six Principles of Fairness in Lending, every Democratic presidential candidate has joined the call for the return of reasonable oversight and regulation of America’s runaway lending industry. Senator Clinton joins Senators Barack Obama and John Edwards in endorsing the AFFIL Principles. AFFIL has asked all presidential candidates to publicly endorse its Principles and four other Democratic candidates—Governor Richardson, Senators Dodd and Gravel, and Congressman Kucinich—also did so. No Republican candidate has yet responded to AFFIL’s requests to their campaigns to endorse the Principles.
New Spanish-Language AFFIL Website to Help Counter Predatory Lending that Targets Hispanics
Date:
2008-01-15
Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL) announced today that it has launched a new Spanish-language website— http://www.affil.org/es—to help counter predatory lending practices that target Spanish speakers in America. AFFIL’s interactive website serves as a resource for consumers to help them understand the traps of predatory lending and offering a range of online debt-relief tools. Research has found enormous racial and ethnic disparities in high-cost lending by banks, credit card companies, and auto financiers. Latinos who are in need of access to affordable credit are often at isk of being harmed by abusive lending products.
SEIU Call to Rein in Big Bank Abuses Praised by Americans for Fairness in Lending
Date:
2007-12-06
Jim Campen, Executive Director of Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), today issued the following statement in support of the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) call for increased oversight of the nation’s biggest banks. “Consumers continue to suffer from a wide range of abusive practices by lenders of every type and size, including by the nation’s largest financial institutions. Given their disproportionate role in the economy, the biggest banks fully deserve a disproportionate amount of scrutiny.
AFFIL Executive Director Jim Campen to Present New Data on Massachusetts Mortgages to U.S. House Financial Services Committee
Date:
2007-10-12
Testimony to Highlight the Declining Role of Massachusetts Banks, the Increasing Role of Largely Unregulated Mortgage Lenders, and Resulting Racial Disparities in Lending: Jim Campen, executive director of Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), will present findings from his 14th Annual Report on mortgage lending patterns in Boston, Greater Boston, and Massachusetts before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. The report, "Persistent Patterns and Industry Changes: Mortgage Lending Disparities in Greater Boston," addresses disturbing changes in mortgage lending practices in Massachusetts and across the country. Campen’s testimony will cite enormous racial/ethnic disparities in mortgage lending across the Bay State, as well as the specific communities being burdened with the highest cost mortgage loans.
New Viral Video Exposes Predatory Credit Card Solicitation on Campus, Engages Young Activists
Date:
2007-10-03
You’ve Been F#%'D! —Animated Parody of TV’s Popular “Punk’d” —Features Host Cashton Klutcher Warning College Students about Easy Credit Rip-Offs on Campus: Right on the heels of the subprime lending market implosion and Congressional hearings about abusive profit-driven credit card policies, a new “viral video,” available at http://www.affil.org/ybf, is attracting national attention by taking on the ever-increasing presence of credit card lenders on America’s college campuses. The controversial new animation making the Internet rounds features a salty spoof of the popular TV show, “Punk’d,” called You’ve Been F#%'D!. In it, TV Host Cashton Klutcher sets up another elaborate practical joke – this time with long-lasting implications – between a college student and the credit card hawker who lures him into the great American debt spiral.
Neighborhood and Individual Impact of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis: A Reporter's Guide
Date:
2007-09-19
The national and global economic impact of the subprime lending crisis has been front-page news for weeks. The following overview is designed to turn the focus of the subprime crisis closer to home, to the impact of these highly questionable and generally unregulated loans on individuals, families and communities. The effect of subprime lending on our local and national economies, though less obvious at first, represents the more devastating and longer-lasting consequences of the subprime crisis.
John Edwards Becomes First Presidential Candidate to Publicly Endorse AFFIL Principles for Fair Lending
Date:
2007-09-13
AFFIL Asks All Candidates to Stand For Consumers and Against Predatory Lending: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today publicly endorsed the Six Principles of Fairness in Lending developed by Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), which call for the return of reasonable oversight and regulation of America’s runaway lending industry. The Principles (detailed below) focus on greater lender responsibility in determining consumers’ capacity to repay debt, reasonable regulation of interest rates, fees and lender practices, full disclosure of terms, and basic safeguards to protect consumers from predatory lending.
Americans for Fairness in Lending Praises Proposed Dodd Legislation
Date:
2007-09-10
(September 10, 2007) Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL) is pleased with Senator Christopher J. Dodd’s proposed Home Preservation and Protection Act, announced last week. Though the full bill has not yet been released, an examination of the outline of the legislation shows that Dodd is responding to the national call for greater consumer protections.
Americans for Fairness in Lending Questions Effectiveness of President Bush Proposals to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
Date:
2007-09-01
Professor Cathy Mansfield, Chair of the Board of Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), released the following statement in response to the speech made yesterday by President Bush on helping homeowners to avoid foreclosure: "President Bush’s statement is not only ‘too little, too late,’ it is also misguided in terms of the help he does offer to American homeowners. While it’s good that President Bush does not want the government to bail out speculators—many of them made huge profits on the backs of borrowers for years before this recent crisis—he needs to realize that by turning a blind eye, government and regulators set the stage for the current crisis. He needs to promote borrower relief that has at least some chance of staving off the national and personal foreclosure crisis that is in full swing and will only get worse."
Toxic Loans in America Infect International Markets - Statement by Kirsten Keefe, AFFIL Founding Executive Director
Date:
2007-08-10
The lending industry house of cards built with unstable subprime mortgage products has finally collapsed - with devastating consequences for both the American and global economies. Quick steps by the US Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe, Japan and Australia may alleviate an immediate crisis, but the castle has certainly fallen and the full impact is yet to be seen. Why did this happen? Investors, lenders and regulators all have a hand in the mess. Overeager Wall Street investors poured billions into asset-backed securities (ie. mortgages) ignoring real property values. Meanwhile the lenders were making huge profits on loans made without regard for borrower ability to repay. And federal regulators are at fault for failing to regulate or even monitor the frenzy, despite ongoing warnings from advocates and economists. One thing is certain in the midst of the mayhem – ‘we the people’ are the real losers.
Americans for Fairness in Lending Notes Senate Action on Gifts to College Loan Officials; Calls for Outlawing All Abusive Loan Practices to Better Protect Student Borrowers
Date:
2007-07-26
(July 26, 2007) Professor Cathy Lesser Mansfield, Board Chair of Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), released the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate barring student lenders from giving gifts to college officials: “As consumer advocates focused on the credit and loan industries, we hear horror stories every day from current and former college students who are facing agonizing lifelong burdens from long-term educational loans. As a professor, I deplore the toll taken on students trapped by absurd and misleading loan terms and practices. The cost of an advanced education funded by abusive loans locks people into debt so deep they often carry it into retirement. Universities accepting gifts from ‘preferred private lenders’ is just one abhorrent practice of many that add insult to injury."
AFFIL Says to Federal Reserve Board: Disclosure on Credit Cards is Not Enough
Date:
2007-05-30
Telling bank robbers that they must write clearer notes in a larger typeface does not stop the theft. Kirsten Keefe, Executive Director of Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), released the following statement in response to the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed rules which require clearer disclosure by credit card companies of their interest rates and fees.
AFFIL responds to the subprime mortgage crisis
Date:
2007-03-23
Kirsten Keefe, Executive Director of Americans for Fairness in Lending
National Campaign Launch
Date:
2007-03-06
The first national campaign to end rampant abuses of consumers by the lending industry in America is being launched today by Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL), a new partnership of consumer, civil rights, faith-based, non-partisan and grassroots organizations.
Advance screening of the acclaimed documentary, Maxed Out
Date:
2007-02-28
The National Financial Awareness Network, in conjunction with Americans For Fairness In Lending, announced today a special advance screening of the acclaimed documentary, Maxed Out, to be held on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas, Texas.
Advanced screening of "Maxed Out"
Date:
2007-02-21
The Seattle/King County Asset Building Collaborative, in conjunction with Americans For Fairness In Lending, announced today a special advance screening of the acclaimed documentary, Maxed Out, to be held on March 8th, at 7:00 pm at the Varsity Theater, 4329 University Way NE, Seattle.
Sign Up! Get email action alerts and updates.
RSS 2.0 Feed
