Resources Archive

Broken Records Redux: How Errors by Criminal Background Check Companies Continue to Harm Consumers Seeking Jobs and Housing

December 20, 2019

This report provides an update to the 2012 Broken Records report. Today, the background screening industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, with about 94% of employers and about 90% of landlords using background checks to evaluate prospective employees and tenants. Background screening companies now generate reports through largely automated processes. Generally, they run automated searches…

What States Can Do to Protect Consumers: Student Loans

December 10, 2019

About 1/3 of Americans ages 18 to 29 have outstanding student loans for their own education. People age 50 and over now owe more than $289 billion, up from $47 billion in 2004.

The Stop EITC and CTC Seizures (H.R. 5114)

December 10, 2019

The undersigned 29 national, state and local civil legal aid, civil rights, consumer, labor, religious, veteran, and public interest organizations, write to strongly urge to take up and pass the Stop EITC and CTC Seizures Act (H.R. 5114), introduced by Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX-29). H.R. 5114 would prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from seizing federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) or Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refunds to pay back student loan debt owed to the U.S. Department of Education

Guide to the HAVEN Act

November 5, 2019

erican Veterans in Extreme Need Act of 2019 (“HAVEN Act”) excludes certain benefits paid to veterans or their family members from the definition of current monthly income (“CMI”) found in the Bankruptcy Code. The HAVEN Act amends § 101(10A) of the Bankruptcy Code and supplements the 2005 amendments to the Code that excluded other government benefits, such as social security income.

Letter to the U.S. Department of Education Regarding FOIA Request No. 19-01776-F

November 4, 2019

Interim response to a request for information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, dated July 1, 2019.

PACE Loans: State and Local Consumer Protection Recommendations

November 1, 2019

owever, recent trends raise alarming questions about the potential for scams and abuse, especially against older consumers and in communities already devastated by disinvestment, redlining, and unaffordable lending.

Payday Lenders Plan to Evade California's New Interest Rate Cap Law Through Rent-A-Bank Schemes

October 25, 2019

Quotes from the transcripts of August 2019 earnings calls by three publicly-traded payday lenders that offer high-cost installment loans in California at rates of 135% to 199% describing their plans to enter into rent-a-bank schemes to evade the new law.

Letter in Support of Bill Requiring the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to Require Preferred Language Question on The Uniform Residential Loan Application

October 25, 2019

Letter from the Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Language Access Task Force to Representatve Green in support of a bill to require the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to require each enterprise to include a preferred language question on the Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA)

Letter to Senate in Support of the Working Families Tax Relief Act

October 14, 2019

The bill would close two major gaps in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) — ensuring that the federal tax code doesn’t continue to tax millions of low-wage workers into, or deeper into, poverty each year and ensuring that the tax code doesn’t exclude millions of lowincome children from the full Child Tax Credit.

What States Can Do to Help Consumers: Debt Collection

September 20, 2019

Debt collection affects 71 million U.S. consumers, with 1 in 3 Americans with a credit report having a debt in collections. This number rises to a staggering 45% of Americans living in predominantly non-white zip codes.

Response to ANPRM on the Qualified Mortgage Definition

September 10, 2019

The undersigned organizations, all of which have a strong interest in access to sustainable homeownership and consumer protection, write as a group to underscore the singular importance of ensuring that the GSE Patch does not expire without additional steps being taken to ensure adequate access to mortgage credit.

Support Letter for the Accurate Access to Credit Information Act of 2019

July 12, 2019

Consumer organizations write to support the Accurate Access to Credit Information Act of 2019. The bill will address serious problems in the credit reporting system and empower consumers by providing them with much greater access to and control over their own information.

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