Letters to Regulators: Organizations Weigh in on Treasury’s Peer to Peer Lending

“…responses to the RFI issued by the Department of the Treasury. The extraordinary diversity of on-line lending models and the rapid growth of the sector mean that continued monitoring will be necessary and the sector will likely fall into the purview of multiple regulators. We encourage the Treasury Department to remain active in determining the appropriate regulatory models, and we will further examine the responses to this RFI with interest to evaluate what types of regulation seem appropriate.”

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Letter to Regulators: AFR Calls on Department of Labor to Protect Retirement Investors

“This is a huge problem – one that, over time, can easily add up to a difference of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement savings. Under the current rules, some of the financial professionals offering retirement investment advice are legally bound to look out for the best interests of their clients; but other professionals, while perceived as having such a duty and clearly benefiting from the perception, are free to put their own interests first, even if that means saddling their clients with needlessly high fees or inappropriate risks.”

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Letter to Regulators: AFR, 114 Organizations Urge CFPB to Protect Student Loan Borrowers from Unfair Servicing Practices

“The undersigned consumer, student, education, and civil rights groups submit this comment in support of student loan servicing reform. Fair and accurate student loan servicing is crucial to protect student loan borrowers’ rights under the law and help them repay their loans successfully. “

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Letter to Regulators: AFR, AFSCME and CFA Oppose Weakening of Independence Standard for Municipal Advisors

“As discussed below, we do believe that this proposal outlines a significant rule change that could potentially reverse the statutory intention of the Dodd-Frank Act to provide a majority of independent members on the Board. We suggest that the Board extend the comment period to allow for more detailed examination of this proposal by members of the public interest community with an interest in municipal finance.”

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Joint Letter: Corinthian Students Deserve Federal Loan Relief, Say AFR and 33 Cosigners

“Given the extensive evidence of widespread fraud at Corinthian Colleges, we believe all current and former students deserve federal loan discharges. We are particularly concerned that students whose entitlement to federal loan discharges is crystal clear – those recently enrolled in the 30 Corinthian campuses that closed on Monday – are being given incomplete, incorrect, and harmful information about their options from Education Department staff as well as from schools that do not have these students’ best interests in mind. “

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