Center for Responsible Lending

Technical Assistance: Provided legal analysis and market insights on racial disparities impacting federal student loan debt repayment, participated in the negotiated rulemaking process to develop new rules and proposals for federal student loan forgiveness and repayment models, assisted in the development of regulations and laws focused on ensuring meaningful consumer protections for small dollar lending products and continued to work with industry and regulators to develop policy definitions and proposals designed to reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in home ownership. CRL also worked with industry participants to adopt meaningful overdraft and nonsufficient fund policy changes. Provided technical assistance to state-based community, policy and civil rights groups focused on state level consumer financial products.

Research Services: Conducted analysis for reports, comments, testimonies, and policy analysis projects. Reports described: high-cost installment loans with longer terms, supervised installment loans in Colorado containing add-on products, a loss mitigation option for the Federal Housing Administration, the impacts of federal student loan cancellation, student loan debt for alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, student debt among women of color during COVID-19, and the impacts of bail bonds on a sample of San Francisco Bay area residents. Polling projects addressed views of likely voters regarding the financial industry and consumer protections, federal student loan borrowers about the impacts of their loans and the payment pause, and Rhode Island voters related to a 36% rate cap.

Outreach/Communications: Provided policy analysis and outreach materials designed to inform national partners and regulators seeking to create lasting structural change in the systems, products, and policies that prevent all Americans from establishing and sustaining economic stability and security. As the nation continued its recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, CRL raised the visibility of COVIDs impact on entrepreneurs of color and the different challenges they faced in securing access to Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness. CRL launched a new In Focus video series, designed to break down complex financial issues and make them easier to understand. In additon, CRL worked to increase state and federal regulators awareness of the growing market for early wage access and buy now, pay later credit products and their potential for predatory impact on underserved consumers.