Who’s hurt by payday lending?
Bridget Rittman-Tune,
April 26, 2019
It is well known that the payday lending industry targets the most vulnerable among us. Particularly vulnerable are African Americans, victims of domestic violence, and veterans as well as active members of the military. The Trump Administration is pushing to roll back an Obama-era rule that would protect consumers from predatory payday and car title lenders. Before they can do that, staff must take into account comments from the public. CHN and many of our allies are working to generate comments opposing this rollback.
We Need Tax Relief for Working Families, Not the 1%
Morgan Williams,
April 25, 2019
Low-income American families are currently facing a host of financial challenges: wages are stagnant, child-care costs are soaring, rent in many cities is skyrocketing, and that’s only naming a few. As a result, 40 percent of Americans would be unable to cover a $400 emergency expense. On April 10th, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Working Families Tax Relief Act, a bill that would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for adults with and without children, improve the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and establish a Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) for families with children under six years old.
Colleges Grapple with Student Food Insecurity
Jessica Allred,
April 23, 2019
In the United States, nearly 13 percent of people are food insecure, living without reliable access to basic nutrition. But the problem is even more dramatic on college campuses, where a recent study found that 48% of students report food insecurity and live without regular access to food. One solution campuses across the country increasingly are employing is on-campus emergency food pantries. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), in September 2018, more than 650 colleges reported having a food pantry on campus.
The U.S. Supreme Court, the Census, and the citizenship question
David Elliot,
April 22, 2019
This Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the Department of Commerce may include a citizenship question as part of next year’s U.S. Census. Experts say including this question would result in as many as 6.5 million people declining to fill out and return their Census forms, particularly among immigrant and people of color communities, with children disproportionately among those left out.
New report documents the dismantling of consumer financial protection
David Elliot,
April 19, 2019
Imagine that that the community where you live has a police department, a fire station, and emergency medical service. Yet calls to 911 go unanswered. And police officers, firefighters and ambulances never respond to actual emergencies. Now imagine that the nation’s largest consumer finance regulator and civil enforcement authority, launched in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession to protect the public from unscrupulous financial service providers, practically stopped providing any protection whatsoever. You don’t have to imagine. It actually is happening.
