FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE: October 3, 2023
Contact: Andy Morrison, andy@neweconomynyc.org
New York State – Today, as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, members of the New York State Community Equity Agenda coalition released the following statements:
“For millions of Americans, the CFPB is an essential line of defense against unscrupulous banks, debt collectors, and other financial predators – which is exactly why the payday lending industry and other moneyed interests have been pulling out all the stops to defund, dismantle, and weaken the agency,” said Raquel Villagra, staff attorney at New Economy Project, a NYC-based economic justice organization. “A Supreme Court decision against the CFPB would not only be legally indefensible, but it would also open the floodgates to ever more predatory financial practices that target Black and brown people and extract billions of dollars from low-income communities.”
“Since its creation following the global financial crisis of 2008 that devastated New York’s Black and brown neighborhoods, the CFPB has protected people and communities from wealth extraction and predatory inclusion – obtaining countless dollars in relief for New Yorkers harmed by egregious and unlawful financial practices,” said Gregory Jost of Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, Inc.
“We work with low-income communities in Buffalo, who are regularly targeted by predatory lenders. The CFPB is a crucial institution. It prevents the worst abuses of power in the lending industry,” said Michael Heubusch of Cooperation Buffalo.
“The CFPB’s work identifying improper and deceptive debt collection practices has been invaluable to our organization’s efforts to document this pervasive problem and identify policy solutions,” said Bob Cohen of Citizen Action of New York.
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About NYS Community Equity Agenda
The NYS Community Equity Agenda is a statewide coalition made up of 50 organizations, including community, labor, civil rights, and legal services groups, cooperative organizations, and community development financial institutions. The Equity Agenda fights for policies that transform our fundamentally unjust social, political and economic systems.