North Carolina Coalition for Responsible Lending

06/01/2023

Rochelle Sparko of CRL tells the story of what happened to one retired veteran in AARP North Carolina. His story shows why we must update NC's debt settlement law, to protect folks like him from being taken by unscrupulous companies.

Seventy-five-year-old Army veteran Lester Rodgers, Jr. lives in Chatham County on a fixed income. When his wife passed away, he worried that he would not have enough money to keep his home.

02/02/2023

Center for Responsible Lending's director of NC policy, Rochelle Sparko, makes the topic of installment loans digestible and educational in a presentation with the Reidsville Chamber of Commerce.

Speaker: (Rochelle Sparko: Director of NC Policy at The Center for Responsible Lending)Topic for January 31st: Installment Loans - a discussion about how NC ...

01/24/2023

Thanks to the Reidsville Chamber of Commerce president Diane Sawyer for this interview with Demarcus Andrews, a director with
Center for Responsible Lending, who shares how his lived experience drives his work for a fair, inclusive marketplace.

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) works to ensure a fair, inclusive financial marketplace that creates opportunities for all credit-worthy borrowers, regardless of their income, because too many hard-working people are deceived by dishonest and harmful practices.CRL’s work focuses on those ...

10/21/2022

JOIN US! Questions about student debt cancellation? Join the NC Coalition for Responsible Lending with guest experts in student debt and taxes. Register here: bit.ly/3gcEo4f

10/12/2021

The NC Coalition for Responsible Lending joined many others in urging the CFPB to reverse dangerous actions taken in the last days of the previous Administration. We can't let predatory lenders sneak into our state in the guise of financial innovators.

Opinion and Order Under Former Director Kraninger Promote Evasions of Credit, Fair Lending, and Payday Loan Laws WASHINGTON, DC – A coalition of 96 consumer, labor, civil rights, legal services, faith, community and financial organizations and academics is urging the Consumer Financial Protection ...

05/25/2021

More than 1.3 million North Carolinians have student loan debt, totaling $48 billion. This debt weighs people down, holds families back from reaching middle-class security and negates the benefits of a higher education. We have an opportunity in our state to end predatory student loan servicing practices that load people up with debt and make it prohibitively expensive to get an education. North Carolina should pass HB 707, the Student Borrowers' Bill of Rights to hold these servicers accountable.

05/20/2021

Rochelle Sparko makes the case for the NC Student Borrowers' Bill of Rights in today's N&O. NC has a big slice of the student debt crisis. HB 707 would license and regulate student loan servicers so that North Carolinians can count on solid, responsible service.

The proposed law would protect 1.3 million North Carolinians who have student debt.

05/03/2021

"I'm far from being able to do the things that require me to invest in my future. Like buy a house. Not only is this an economic issue, but it is a racial equity issue. Almost half of black graduates owe more on undergraduate student loans for years after graduation than they did when they received their degrees, compared to 17 of white graduate In North Carolina." Trey Roberts of Raleigh.

Lawmakers file a bill to license and regulate student loan servicers to help people with student loans manage their debt more effectively, reducing financial distress and freeing more of their resources for activities that will boost the economy.

04/29/2021

On Wednesday, April 28, 2021, we announced the introduction of the Student Borrowers' Bill of Rights. Speakers include student borrower Trey Roberts, NC Reps. Rachel Hunt and Deb Butler, and Rochelle Sparko.

Because the 1.3 million North Carolinian student loan borrowers owe a collective $48 billion and are often hindered rather than helped to manage their debt by student loan servicers, the reform this bill would provide is essential. It will hold those servicers accountable and vastly improve their practices, an important element in the effort to boost the North Carolina economy.

Introduction of Student Borrowers' Bill of Rights with NC Reps. Hunt and Butler, Rochelle Sparko, Trey Roberts

03/10/2021

What's your student debt story?

More than half of North Carolina’s Class of 2017 college graduates carried federal student loans when they finished, averaging more than $26,000.