Table of Contents

Call for a CFPB rulemaking on forced arbitration
More than a hundred organizations signed on to a letter to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra supporting a recently submitted petition for rulemaking to require meaningful consumer consent to arbitration.

Bank CEOs are urged to make good on promises to close racial wealth disparities
A hundred advocacy groups submitted letters to more than 40 bank CEOs urging them to make good on comments made to close racial wealth disparities and invest in traditionally underserved communities following the widespread racial justice protests of 2020.

FCC should ban forced arbitration clauses in telecommunications services contracts
Advocacy groups responded to the FCC’s call for comment on proposed rulemaking on data breach reporting requirements and urged the agency to consider banning forced arbitration clauses in telecommunications service contracts with consumers, which allow corporations to avoid consequences for their wrongdoing.

Comments submitted in support of CFPB’s proposed rulemaking to prohibit the inclusion of adverse information in consumer reporting in cases of human trafficking
Survivor advocacy and consumer groups submitted comments in support of the CFPB’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the prohibition on inclusion of adverse information in consumer reporting in cases of human trafficking. Measures should be put in place that prevent trafficking survivors from being penalized for what their traffickers have done in their names.

Protect retirees and savers from conflicted investment advice
A broad coalition of leading worker, consumer and investor advocates has urged the Department of Labor (DOL) to quickly update and strengthen the rules governing retirement investment advice to help protect workers and retirees from harmful conflicts of interest. Conflicted retirement investment advice costs retirement savers tens of billions of dollars every year.

Advocates support Hill staffers’ effort to organize
Coalition advocates express support for congressional staffers who have begun a campaign to unionize lawmaker offices and committees. Besieged with long hours, measly pay and demanding bosses, congressional employees are hoping for better outcomes if they organize and bargain collectively.

Ensure that banks equitably and justly invest in our communities
A coalition of 60 groups wrote a letter urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to develop a strong rule requiring small business lenders to report on the race, ethnicity and gender of their borrowers, the neighborhoods where they lend, and what they charge for their loans. Members of the coalition have been advocating for small business data collection and transparency within the small business market for decades. Robust small business data collection through the Section 1071 rule will result in enhanced transparency, more responsible lending practices, targeted enforcement of fair lending laws, informed policymaking, healthier markets, and reduced racial and gender wealth gaps.

Biden should remove FDIC Chair for refusing to follow the law
Twenty-two organizations called on President Joe Biden to remove Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Chair Jelena McWilliams for violating the agency’s statutes and bylaws that provide for majority rule. McWilliams has refused to allow publication in the Federal Register of a request authorized by three of the four board members for public input on the FDIC’s bank merger policy, proving that she is not fit to serve as Chair.

CFPB urged to reverse earned wage actions that could create dangerous FinTech payday loopholes
A coalition of 96 consumer, labor, civil rights, legal services, faith, community and financial organizations and academics is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to revoke or significantly revise two actions taken in late 2020 regarding earned wage access (EWA) products. The group argued that the CFPB’s EWA advisory opinion and PayActiv approval order, which declared that certain EWA programs are not deemed “credit,” threaten to create loopholes in federal credit and fair lending laws and are being misused to promote FinTech exemptions in state laws that regulate predatory payday lending products.

Protecting democracy from a lawless president
For decades, as the executive branch has increased its power, Congress has increasingly struggled to fulfil its constitutional duties to protect the rule of law by holding presidents accountable for overreaches and preventing abuses of presidential power. Advocates joined together to support the Protecting Our Democracy Act (HR 8363 and S 4880) in an effort to push for necessary institutional reforms to protect our democracy and restore Congress’s ability to check and balance the executive branch, without infringing on the president’s constitutional powers.