Letter to Democratic Collegaues - Vote No on Dodd-Frank Rollback Bill

Letter

Dear Democratic Colleague,

This week, the House is expected to consider S. 2155, a Senate-passed bill that would deregulate large financial institutions and dismantle important consumer protections enacted as part of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

We are particularly concerned with a provision (Section 104) that would enable 85 percent of the depository institutions in the U.S. -- roughly 5,400 banks -- to not report mortgage data they already collect, which can help expose the most insidious lending discrimination against people of color and redlining of vulnerable communities.

After the widespread predatory lending abuses of the 2008 financial crisis, Democrats passed the historic Dodd Frank Act and updated the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HDMA) to require the collection of additional data -- such as credit scores, loan amounts, and interest rates -- that help expose illegal redlining and lending discrimination practices. If this provision of S. 2155 becomes law, the Justice Department, Wall Street watchdog agencies, civil rights attorneys, and the American public will lose an essential tool to identify and prosecute the brazen discrimination that has locked families and communities of color out of the American Dream.

Recent reports have shown that redlining continues to be a serious problem in many communities, making the continued collection of updated HMDA data all the more critical. A widely-publicized analysis by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting showed that people of color are still more likely to be denied a conventional mortgage than white applicants in more than 60 metropolitan areas across America.

Recognizing the grave potential for this measure to enable redlining and discrimination, hundreds of civil rights, fair housing, consumer, and community organizations across the country have come out strongly against this provision of S. 2155, among many other provisions in the bill that hurt consumers.

The American people paid a very high price for the weak oversight and discriminatory lending practices that culminated in the 2008 financial crisis -- 9 million jobs lost, 11 million homes lost, and $13 trillion in household wealth lost. We must not allow the GOP Congress to drag us back to the same lack of oversight that ignited the Great Recession.

We thank you for your attention to these concerns and urge you to vote no on this dangerous rollback of the consumer protections of Dodd Frank.

Sincerely,

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