An occasional digest of news and information about
CRL-California, our work on the mortgage and consumer lending
fronts in the Golden State and national activity on the range of
our issues, including mortgages, payday loans, credit cards and
overdraft loans.
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CRL Affiliate Self-Help Federal Credit Union
Celebrates 1st Anniversary
Chartered in August of
2008, the community development credit union has a mission of
providing responsible financial services to low- and moderate
income Californians. This practical mission directly
informs and supports the policy work of CRL. Across just
12 months of operation, SHFCU has grown to serve about 14,000 members
through two divisions: the People’s division, with a
branch in West Oakland; and the Community Trust division, with
branches in Modesto, Riverbank, and East Palo
Alto. |
Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Package of Mortgage-Related
Bills
Earlier this month Gov. Schwarzenegger signed
8 mortgage bills on issues ranging from broker fiduciary duties
to foreclosure rescue scams. Of those bills, AB 1160,
sponsored by Asm. Paul Fong of Cupertino, contained some of the
best news for consumers. The new legislation provides that if a
mortgage is negotiated in one of five popular languages other
than English, a translation of key mortgage features and terms
must be provided to the borrower. Another important bill,
SB 94, prohibits loan modification “consultants”
from collecting fees in advance of providing services.
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Sign the Petition in Support of Better
Consumer Protections!
The Center for Responsible
Lending has launched a petition to be delivered to Members of
Congress and President Obama telling them that Americans need
and want an agency looking out for their financial
interests. No more tricks and no more traps from the big
banks taxpayers bailed out—we need the Consumer Financial
Protection Agency! |
AB 377—Flawed Payday Bill—Held Over to
2010
The payday lending bill introduced by Asm.
Tony Mendoza which, in its final form, would raise the loan
amount from $300 to $500, was stalled this session in the Senate
Judiciary Committee. It was converted to a two-year bill,
and could re-surface at the start of the next year’s
session. Last week, the Silicon Valley Community
Foundation and Public Interest Law Foundation released a report on the state of payday lending in
California.
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Overdraft Explosion: Californians Bleeding $3B in
Overdraft Fees
A new CRL report finds that Americans
now pay more than $24B in abusive overdraft fees, up 35% from
2007. The nation’s consumers now spend more on these
high-cost, short-term loans than they do on fresh vegetables!
Since Californians make up about 12% of the U.S. population,
Californians shoulder an estimated $3 billion of the national
total, assuming they are charged a proportionate share of these
fees. Read the full report, and test your overdraft
knowledge. |
Legislation Introduced to Improve Loan Modification
Outcomes
AB 1588, authored by Assembly Speaker Karen
Bass and Asms. Ted Lieu and Pedro Nava and sponsored by L.A.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would create the Monitored Mortgage
Workout Program. This initiative would provide for
state-appointed monitors to help ensure that homeowners have a
chance to meet with their lenders and a neutral monitor to work
out a plan to prevent home foreclosure.
In the News
The San Jose Mercury News opposing payday lending, the Los Angeles Times
on overdraft fees and the San Francisco Chronicle
on the need for a consumer financial protection
agency.
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