Financial Reform Will Help Low-Income Americans, Communities of Color

Greenlining Institute Policy Experts Available For Interviews in Washington and California.

Courtesy: differentkitchenblogspot.com

(WASHINGTON, D.C. ) - The financial regulatory reform bill now on the verge of final passage will be a huge benefit to low-income Americans and communities of color that were disproportionately the targets of predatory lending, experts at The Greenlining Institute said today. Greenlining legislative director Chris Vaeth and executive director Orson Aguilar will be available for interviews both before and after the Senate vote on the measure, expected shortly.

“This bill is good news for all Americans, but especially for the communities of color that were disproportionately targeted by predatory lenders,” said Vaeth.

“The Federal Reserve found that blacks and Latinos were over four times more likely to receive high-cost, subprime loans than whites with comparable credit scores – exactly the kind of abuse that the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is designed to stop.”

An important but little-known provision creates Offices of Women and Minority Inclusion in the key regulatory agencies.

“People of color are less likely to have bank accounts and more likely to be preyed upon by high-cost operators like payday lenders, in part because they’ve had poor experiences with the banking system,” said Aguilar.

“These reforms will help banks better meet the needs of all their customers and bring more Americans into the banking system.”