Consumer Impact, Fall 2022

Consumer Impact

Practice and Policy: Powerful New Online Tools for the Consumer Law Community

NCLC has completed a multi-year major overhaul of our web-based tools to make information and resources from NCLC’s staff of expert attorneys even more useful and accessible.

Reintroducing: NCLC’s Digital Library

The NCLC Digital Library, which hosts all 21 titles in NCLC’s Consumer Law Practice Series in digital format, has been redesigned and relaunched with a focus on the needs of our subscribers. New features include an improved user experience for reading chapters and accessing related pleadings, primary sources, and practice tools. There is also a new focus on sharing important information within the consumer law community. These improvements make the NCLC Digital Library and its resources even more important to successful consumer law practices.

Digital editions of the titles that subscribers have come to rely on are still continuously updated from the print edition. Navigate between digital pages seamlessly and instantly, using our Book Reader’s new technology, ”infinite scroll.” Collapse and expand the table of contents to easily move through subsections, and quickly click to the appendices, index, and companion materials from that same table.

Search more flexibly than ever with our new and improved basic and advanced search functions. Narrow down by type of content, companion material, article, or treatise, or search across the entire Digital Library.

Easy access is a theme on the new Digital Library: open footnotes

side-by-side with chapter text to efficiently access references and sources. From any book page, click Related Content to see a list of other subsections and documents available on the Digital Library that relate to that page, or quickly navigate to recently viewed subsections. Current sub scribers’ bookmarks and annotations are still available, and can now be shared with colleagues in your community, along with those curated by NCLC staff. NCLC also will notify subscribers of important law changes through a special alert function.

Community is integral to the new NCLC Digital Library! The Digital Library automatically recognizes recent NCLC conference attendees, legal aid attorneys, and NACA members, granting immediate access to over 1,000 written materials from

recent NCLC conferences. Special discounts automatically apply to legal aid attorneys and NACA members. Plus, users can create and share annotations, bookmarks, and collections of bookmarks with other members of the same NCLC listserv.

Visit www.nclc.org/library to experience the new platform today.

A New NCLC.org

NCLC has also revamped NCLC.org, containing a deep and growing collection of analytical reports, issue briefs, and testimony. Robust new search tools will help you find expert resources on every consumer law issue. Explore NCLC.org now to access our policy resources by topic area, register for our essential consumer law conferences and trainings, and take action for consumer justice: www.nclc.org n

Consumer Impact

is a biannual publication of the National Consumer Law Center to inform our supporters about NCLC’s advocacy.

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A Note from the Executive Director

Dear friends and consumer law colleagues,

After over two and a half years of COVID-caused separation, it was great to see so many of you at the Consumer Rights Litigation Conference (CRLC) in Seattle, and for our community to be able to see and connect with one another again. Since March of 2020, we’ve all done our best to use technology to stay connected, but there’s no substitute for being together in person – in consumer law, as in life.

A successful return to in-person conferences was a highlight of 2022 for me, and we have more opportunities to come together to look forward to in 2023 – including via a new partnership with the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), with whom NCLC will jointly plan and execute conferences next year, including a Spring Training (May 4-5 in New Orleans) and the Consumer Rights Litigation Conference and Class Action Symposium (Oct. 26-29 in Chicago) I’m excited about the possibilities of this new partnership, and grateful to those in the community who have encouraged it, and to our friends and allies at NACA who believe in it.

Building a More Equitable Credit Future Reforming the Credit Reporting Industry

By Odette Williamson, NCLC Racial Justice and Equal Economic Opportunity Project Director

Researchers have long documented that Black families face significant barriers in building wealth due to structural racism and deeply ingrained discrimination in employment, education, housing, and access to credit. Policymakers have promoted homeownership as the primary means for individuals and families to build wealth, but redlining, segregation and other racially exclusionary practices paved the way for a homeownership gap between Black and white households that stands at a fifty-year high.

Financial firms have promised to leverage new types of data and analysis to increase access to credit. This “alternative data,” not traditionally included in credit reports issued by the Big Three credit bureaus, includes conventional financial data such as rent and utility payments or bank account cash flow data. It can also include data from less conventional sources: educational background, web browsing, social media, or other forms of “Big Data.”

“If this credit score gap were closed, the number of Black households with a mortgage could increase by 10 percent or more.”

NCLC Partners Council

Leadership for NCLC

Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Chair

Bryan Kemnitzer, Chair Emeritus

Leonard Bennett

O. Rand Bragg

Robert M. Bramson

Bernard E. Brown

Mark A. Chavez

Michael D. Donovan

E. Michelle Drake

Cary L. Flitter

James A. Francis

Kristi C. Kelly

Keith Keogh

Steve D. Larson

Seth R. Lesser

Matthew P. McCue

Scott D. Owens

David J. Philipps

John Roddy

James C. Sturdevant

Beth Terrell

Janet R. Varnell

Hassan A. Zavareei

We’re going to need all the togetherness we can muster, as a faltering economy strains the finances of low- and moderate-income consumers, and anti-consumer court decisions block access to justice for millions of vulnerable people. Yet despite the challenging environment, I’m proud that we’ve led the way and contributed to a number of important victories for consumers this year – including the adoption of credit reporting reforms to mitigate the harmful impacts of medical debt on consumers, protecting anti-poverty benefits for low-income families from seizure due to defaulted student loans, the advancement of state-level protections –including California legislation to eliminate or reduce wage seizures – and much more.

We have an ambitious agenda for continuing to advance stronger consumer protections in the year ahead, and NCLC will of course remain focused on our core mission of providing frontline consumer attorneys with the tools and resources you need to successfully advocate for your clients. As highlighted in this edition of Consumer Impact, we’ve recently upgraded our NCLC.org website to provide better access to our extensive collection of consumer law reports and analysis and have recently completed a major overhaul of the NCLC Digital Library, which has been redesigned to provide better access to pleadings, primary sources, practice tools, and conference materials, and to allow and encourage sharing information within the consumer law community. If you’re not already using the Digital Library in your practice, there’s no better time to subscribe than now!

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to all who support NCLC’s work through tax-deductible charitable donations. Your contributions are an essential ingredient in all of NCLC’s work, and sustain and strengthen our fight for economic justice for the most vulnerable people and families in our country. We count on you, just as they count on all of us. Thank you for considering a gift at this time, as we plan and prepare for the challenges and opportunities of a busy year ahead.

With best wishes, Rich Dubois Executive Director

One of the chief drivers of the racial homeownership gap is lenders’ use of credit scores issued by the Big Three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Credit reports and scores reflect existing racial disparities, and prove to be a major barrier for consumers seeking mortgages and other forms of credit. Dozens of studies have found that Black consumers have lower credit scores as a group than white consumers. A 2019 study by the Urban Institute, for example found that more than 50% of white households have a FICO credit score above 700, compared with only 20.6% of Black households. In addition, 33% of Black households with credit histories had insufficient credit and lacked a credit score, while only 17.9% of white households are without credit scores. If this credit score gap were closed, the number of Black households with a mortgage could increase by 10% or more.

While some conventional forms of alternative data are promising, the use of alternative data in and of itself will not eliminate disparities in credit scores, and will not cure credit inequities. Any data that relies on financial information will still reflect current racial disparities, given the unequal economic positions of Black, Latino, and white households.

And if not used carefully, this data has the potential to worsen access to rental housing and utilities and reinforce discrimi natory practices and patterns.

NCLC is working to address racial disparities and promote systemic reforms in the credit reporting industry, including advocating for the responsible use of alternative data, and the creation of new scoring models that explicitly reduce the impact of race. With the help of allies, NCLC will continue to advocate for structural reforms to break this vicious cycle of economic injustice. n

NCLC Wages National Campaign Against “Rent-a-Bank” Schemes

NCLC is partnering with a national alliance of advocacy groups in the Stop the Debt Trap Coalition to fight against predatory “rent-a-bank” lending, a practice in which lenders offer loans at illegally high interest rates to evade state interest rate caps by offering their products through banks which are generally exempt from interest rate limits.

Advocates have documented how often rent-a-bank schemes are present in everyday transactions all across the nation – and how exploitative this kind of lending can be. For example, NCLC and the Stop the Debt Trap Coalition found that Utah-based Transportation Alliance Bank (TAB Bank) helps predatory lender EasyPay Finance

offer loans for many kinds of products, including puppies offered through “puppy mills” and other pets.

The Coalition has also uncovered how the same company offers deceptive high-cost loans for auto repairs. EasyPay and TAB Bank offer 90-day full interest rebates to consumers for auto repair loans, but the rebates are difficult to exercise, and consumers end up paying interest rates up to 189% annual percentage rate (APR), with payments mostly going toward interest. This financing has been offered through many major auto repair companies, including AAMCO, Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Big O Tires, and many other national brands. Jiffy Lube, in response to our report, announced that it would stop

its franchisees from offering these predatory loans.

Advocates are calling for the FDIC to stop banks from facilitating exploitative lending practices and evasions of interest rate laws. The Stop the Debt Trap coalition has submitted comments and a letter to the FDIC to expose these practices, along with a petition signed by more than 44,500 people calling for action against this form of predatory lending. NCLC and the Coalition aim to stop TAB Bank from continuing its exploitative partnership with EasyPay, and over the long term to put an end to predatory rent-a-bank lending for good. n

Bringing the Community Together

A Successful Return to In-Person Conferences

Over 700 consumer attorneys gathered in Seattle from Nov. 10-13 for the first in-person Consumer Rights Litigation Conference (CRLC) and Class Action Symposium since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CRLC attendees learned from leading practitioners and each other in over 60 breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, strategy summits, and brown bag luncheons covering every area in consumer law. Plenary speakers included CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, who outlined the agency’s top consumer protection priorities for the next two years; Princeton Sociology Professor Frederick Wherry, who spoke passionately about the connection between debt and dignity; and U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus and Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who called advocates to action at the conference’s Awards Luncheon.

Additional highlights of the annual Awards Luncheon included presentations of the 2022 Vern

Campaign for the Future Update

Spotlight on Scholarships

The NCLC Campaign for the Future a multi-year, multi-pronged effort to build NCLC’s capacity to advance economic justice for all, aims to make NCLC’s essential consumer law training conferences more accessible to attorneys who need the training most – and thanks to the support of generous Campaign donors, it is doing just that.

The Campaign’s Legal Aid Partnership Project and “Next Generation” Campaign components each include automatic 50% scholarships to NCLC conferences to help ensure that legal aid lawyers and new-to-practice private attorneys are able to receive the training and development opportunities

Countryman Award to Karen Meyers of New Mexico, and the NCLC Partners Council “Rising Star” awards to a trio of up-and-coming consumer champions: Maryland Assistant Attorney General Kathleen Hyland, Volunteer Lawyers Project Staff Attorney Colin Harnsgate, and bankruptcy and consumer rights attorney Kelly Jones.

This final gathering of 2022 capped a year of successful returns to in-person convenings, including the NCLC Fair Debt Collections and Mortgage Conferences and NACA’s Spring Training. NCLC is grateful to all of the speakers, sponsors, participants, and others who contributed to the success of this year’s conferences.

Looking forward to 2023 – and beyond –NACA Executive Director Ira Rheingold joined NCLC Executive Director Rich Dubois to announce a new partnership on consumer law conferences (see sidebar), a major step forward in our shared mission of building a bigger, stronger, and more effective consumer law community. n

they need to meet the complex consumer law challenges of the present – and future.

To date, 1,330 legal aid attorneys and 175 private attorneys in practice for less than five years have received automatic conference scholarships. This is Campaign support in action, helping build a bigger and stronger consumer law community.

Jim Kowalski, the President and CEO of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, expressed gratitude to those supporting the Campaign for the Future, and said, “NCLC conferences are the most effective way for legal aid lawyers practicing consumer and housing law to strategize and learn from leaders in the field across the country – and the scholarships made possible by the Campaign for the Future are the most effective way to get legal aid practitioners to the conferences.” n

NCLC joins the many recipients of these scholarships in expressing our gratitude to the Campaign supporters who make them possible. For more information about the entire Campaign, please contact NCLC’s Paul Laurent at plaurent@nclc.org

1 CRLC Co-Host/NCLC Partners Council Member Elizabeth Cabraser and NCLC Staff Attorney Olivia Wein raising a glass at the Womxn’s Networking Suite

2 The Redactions the CRLC band, playing a set at the Welcome Reception

3 Rising Star Winners: Colin Harnsgate, Kathleen Hyland, and Kelly D. Jones

4 NCLC Staff Attorney Chi Chi Wu and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra

5 U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA) at the Awards Luncheon

6 Rich Dubois and 2022 Countryman Award Winner Karen Meyers

7 Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and CRLC Co-Host/NCLC Partners Council Member Beth Terrell

NCLC and NACA to Partner on Future Conferences

NCLC Executive Director Rich Dubois and NACA

Executive Director Ira Rheingold have announced a three-year (2023–2025) agreement to plan and execute consumer law conferences together under a new, joint management structure.

To support the collaboration, a joint Conference Steering Committee, including the NCLC and NACA executive directors, one staff member from each organization, and two mutually agreed-upon practicing consumer attorneys, will be responsible for addressing and resolving “big picture” issues. It will also ensure that the substantive content of the conferences serves the needs of the community and is coordinated to ensure that each conference complements other events. Staff responsibili ties will be organized to reduce duplication and costs and to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.

The agreement eliminates existing competition and creates a revenue-sharing arrangement that gives each organization a stake in the success of the entire conference program, which will continue to focus on meeting the educational, training, and networking needs of all consumer attorneys, including legal aid, government, private attorneys, and class action lawyers at varying levels of experience.In 2023, NCLC and NACA will jointly organize a Spring Training (May 4–5 in New Orleans), a summer Mortgage Conference, and a Consumer Rights Litigation Conference and Class Action Symposium (Oct. 26–29 in Chicago). Much more information about all of these events will be coming in the months ahead, as we work together to plan the best possible conferences for the benefit of the entire community! n

“CRLC attendees learned from leading practitioners and each other in over 60 breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, strategy summits, and brown bag luncheons covering every area in consumer law.”

Rich Dubois and Ira Rheingold

Consumer Champion: Robert S. Green, Legal Explorer

Robert Green followed a winding path to practicing consumer law. From a family of Marines, he attended college on an ROTC scholarship, but broke with family tradition to get a JD and an MBA.

After working in securities litigation for a number of years, Robert took advantage of an opportunity to branch out into consumer law, and with another leading attorney in the San Francisco area, opened a new firm whose first case was focused on counterfeit baby formula. At that time, oversight of the food supply chain was not well-structured, and baby formula from overseas (made to look like the major formula brand Similac) was being distributed via major retail markets and was making infants very sick. Robert and his colleagues emerged victorious from the high-profile case, which resulted in a significant settlement for the harmed class and the removal of the dangerous formula product from many store shelves putting the firm in the national spotlight.

In the early 2000s, Robert and James Noblin set up a new partnership and took on numerous cases of national importance, including the Ford Explorer/Firestone Tire Rollover litigation over tires blowing out on the new Ford Explorer SUV. Along with Lieff Cabraser, they successfully litigated the California state case, alleging design flaws in the Explorer which, together with underinflated tires, were causing fatalities as drivers lost control of vehicles. After a three-month trial, Ford settled, and class members received a substantial settlement in a case that exposed serious problems around decision-making at Ford.

“I don’t think we could do the things we do without NCLC and its important work – brilliant people doing brilliant trainings and helping those in need. You learn so much at the CRLC and meet others in the field doing great work, too. For that reason alone, I am happy to support NCLC’s Campaign for the Future. NCLC just adds so much value –it’s natural to be connected.”

Outside of litigation, Robert and his family spent five years running the Cottonwood Restaurant in Truckee, California. In March 2020, like so many others, the restaurant’s business plan suddenly pivoted in one day from being a 400 seat dine-in restaurant to a different model altogether. “In the morning it was business as usual, but by late afternoon we learned how to do takeout real quick.”

NCLC is grateful for Robert’s – and his firm, Green & Noblin’s –years of generous support, including a leadership role in supporting NCLC’s Campaign for the Future. n

“Give With Confidence”

NCLC Rated Highly for Financial Stability and Transparency

This fall, national charity watchdog Charity

Navigator issued its highest marks to NCLC –our 5th consecutive four-star rating – for financial performance, accountability and transparency, informing potential donors that they can “give with confidence” to NCLC.

Thank you for helping make NCLC one of the nation’s most trusted and respected non-profit organizations! n

NCLC Legacy Society Enduring Impacts and Lasting Legacies

Our lives are our legacy. For those whose life’s work has been focused on protecting vulnerable consumers, planned giving can be a way to have an enduring impact by sustaining the continued growth and strength of the consumer law community. Joining The NCLC Legacy Society can be one of the ways your life can impact the next generation, and beyond.

A legacy gift is simply a charitable contribution from your estate, which can take a variety of forms –including charitable bequests, gifts from IRAs and other retirement accounts, beneficiary designations in life insurance policies, and more – to create a lasting impact on consumer justice that will extend far into the future. Legacy gifts can be designed to accommodate each individual’s unique circumstances, and a donor always has the right to modify a legacy gift in the future if necessary.

Visit nclc.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/ planned-giving to learn more, and please feel free to contact Paul Laurent at plaurent@nclc.org when you’re next thinking about estate planning, whether you have a quick question, are looking for planning resources, or want to discuss gift, estate, or tax-planning in-depth. We are deeply grateful to all members of the NCLC Legacy Society, and to all who consider making NCLC a part of their lasting legacy.

“I’ve included NCLC in my estate plan because I know how essential its work is to continued progress toward economic justice in our nation. I am proud to be a member of The NCLC Legacy Society, and hope you will join me in leaving a legacy for consumer justice.”

– Mike Greenfield, George Alexander Madill Professor of Contracts and Commercial Law at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri

Protecting Consumers from Robocalls and Telemarketing

NCLC Advocacy Before Federal Agencies

I n recent months, NCLC and allies from the consumer law community have been fighting together for stronger protections against fraud, deception, and abuse before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

FTC – Telemarketing, Auto Financing: Alongside the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and with the substantial input of consumer attorney, Matt McCue (who is also a leading supporter of NCLC’s Campaign for the Future), we recently wrote comments urging the FTC to adopt and strengthen its proposed amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rules.

We also wrote comprehensive comments, along with Consumer Federation of America and with assistance from the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS), urging the FTC to proceed with

its proposed regulations to reign in abuses in automobile financing.

FCC Robocalls: Following up on the publication of NCLC’s report, Scam Robocalls: Telecom Providers Profit we have continued to urge the FCC to implement strategies that incentivize all telecommunications providers in the path of scam calls and texts to block these illegal calls. In recent filings with EPIC, we urged the FCC to measure the value of providers’ compliance with regulations by the success of their efforts to block the robocalls; to suspend non-compliant providers from the telecommunications system; and to adopt a robust licensing and bonding system for small providers. In September’s filing, we also highlighted the ongoing problems with the Commission’s response to the robocall scourge: inadequate incentives for providers to stop transmitting the calls, and inadequate responsiveness to the harm suffered by consumers. n

The State of the States

NCLC Campaign for the Future Fuels State-Level Victories with Systemic Impact

Critical consumer law battles are happening at the state level across the country. Thanks to the Campaign for the Future and its generous supporters, NCLC has been able to join the fight – and play an essential role in notching high-impact victories to create systemic change in multiple states.

California: Protecting Essential Wages and Savings for Workers and Families

NCLC recently celebrated the passage of California Senate Bill 1477, which completely protects a worker making $20 an hour from wage seizure and reduces the amount that can be seized from other workers.

Once a creditor obtains a court judgment that a consumer owes it money, in most states it can obtain a wage garnishment order that forces the consumer’s employer to withhold and hand over a large chunk of the consumer’s paycheck. Wage garnishment can force workers and their families to forgo necessities like food, medicine, or rent.

The new California law ensures that more Californians – already grappling with record inflation, gas costs, and rental costs –will not be pushed off a financial precipice. It will also advance racial and economic justice: 22% of consumers in predominantly white communities have a debt in collection nationally, a figure that increases to 35% in communities of color.

NCLC was proud to be one of the lead sponsors and advocates for this legislation, working with a broad coalition. NCLC is working with advocates in states across the country to build on this momentum to combat destabilizing wage and bank account seizure.

Illinois: Groundbreaking Reforms Advance Racial Justice in Utility Service

The Illinois Commerce Commission, which sets rate and other policies for the state’s public utilities, recently set performance-based financial penalties and rewards for the state’s largest electric utilities, incorporating zip code level data in an affordability metric for the first time and requiring a 34% reduction over four years in disconnections in the 20 zip codes with the highest disconnection rates served by the companies.

These reforms represent groundbreaking steps forward in the fight for racial justice and access to critical utility service. The adoption of this affordability metric will steeply reduce utility disconnections in many of the most vulnerable communities in Illinois and is also one of the first times, if not the first time, that a state has tied utility companies’ profits directly to their ability to avoid disconnections in vulnerable communities, setting a key precedent for other states. Tracking this progress at the zip-code level – another unprecedented step – ensures that the benefits of this policy go to low-income communities of color and environmental justice communities.

NCLC was proud to advocate for this major change on behalf of our low-income client, Illinois-based Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI). NCLC pushed back against proposals offered by the affected companies that, we argued, met none of the law’s intended requirements and worked with our client to press for the adoption of this groundbreaking metric. n

Robert Green and Revil, his Little Brother through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Medical Debt Reforms Advance Across Industry and Government

Major Progress Shows Promise for Further Change

Major institutions across multiple sectors have begun adopting key reforms to mitigate the harmful impacts of medical debt – marking critical progress in NCLC’s campaign to reduce the crisis-level medical debt burden carried by consumers in the United States.

The “Big Three” credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – have started removing medical debt that has already been paid off or settled from credit reports, along with unpaid medical debt less than $500, as of this July. Going forward, the credit bureaus will also wait a full year before adding new unpaid medical debts to credit reports. In all, these reforms are expected to result in the removal of nearly 70% of medical bills from credit reports.

The federal government has also begun acting to reduce the burden and impact of medical debt. Earlier in the year, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it would reduce the amount of its patients’ medical debts reported to credit bureaus. The White House then released its own agenda to further lessen the damage of medical debt by increasing accountability for abusive medical providers and debt collectors, reducing the role of medical debt in underwriting for federal credit programs, and pursuing other policy changes. The White House issued a directive to carry out the underwriting reforms late this past summer.

For years, NCLC has called public attention to the enormous – and ongoing – medical debt crisis in America, which accounts for a large portion of debts being collected by

collection agencies. As of last March, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) estimated that consumer credit reports listed an astonishing $88 billion in medical bills – and as NCLC has revealed in our groundbreaking report, The Racial Health and Wealth Gap: Impact of Medical Debt on Black Families , this staggering debt burden falls most heavily on communities of color, widening pre-existing racial disparities in wealth and health outcomes.

NCLC strongly supports these critical reforms and is proud to have contributed to helping shape the conversation around this issue through testimony before the U.S. Senate, publication of in-depth reports, provision of support to activists across the nation working on this issue, and other advocacy.

Yet despite these gains, more robust reforms are still needed. Medical debt and aggressive tactics employed by companies seeking to collect on these debts remain a threat to the long-term financial wellbeing of many consumers, especially the most vulnerable, and continue to be included on many consumers’ credit reports –despite being a poor indicator of creditworthiness. NCLC continues to fight on the state and federal levels for fairer debt collection laws, and additional protections, including the complete removal of medical debts from credit reports. n

Explore NCLC’s work fighting for affordable healthcare and fair debt collection at nclc.org/issues/debt-collection.html

Critical Consumer Advocacy Materials

NCLC has produced deep, substantive reports, issue briefs, and other policy analysis, advocacy, and litigation resources,

Reports

Issue Briefs

Webinars

A Major Victory for Student Loan Borrowers –But

President Biden’s decision to provide $10,000 in debt relief for most federal student loan borrowers, with additional relief for those from low-income households, promises life-changing relief for millions of Americans, especially for low-income families and people of color who have borne the brunt of the nation’s student debt crisis. NCLC is hard at work with partners across the country to ensure that all eligible borrowers, and particularly the most vulnerable –who too often miss out – are able to access the promised relief.

NCLC is proud to have played a role in this transformative progress. But we recognize that the student loan system is still fundamentally broken, and that many borrowers – especially borrowers of color, and Black women in particular, who carry the heaviest student debt burdens – will continue to struggle with current and future debt until the system is fixed. Education costs have skyrocketed as state and federal funding support has failed to keep up or even declined, leaving low-income families and people of color to take on increasingly unaffordable loan burdens just to have a shot at postsecondary education. And loan repayment, collection, and interest policies are exacerbating the crisis, causing many borrowers to owe more even after years in repayment, and often pushing low-income people into poverty if they fall behind.

Unless the system itself is fixed, we’ll be in the same crisis five years from now. That’s why we must act now to fundamentally reform the student loan system to create a real pathway to repayment success – and therefore, to educational and economic opportunity – for all.

System

NCLC is advocating for critical changes to the core of the system, including:

n Making college affordable and holding schools accountable including by increasing state and federal support for community colleges, public universities, and minority-serving institutions; increasing and expanding Pell Grants; and cutting programs and schools that prey on students or leave them with unaffordable debt out of the student aid program entirely.

n Reducing interest and other loan add-on costs, and eliminating interest capitalization on federal student loans. These extra costs of borrowing make students without access to generational wealth pay more for education, and have increasingly caused borrowers to experience staggering balance growth even while making their scheduled payments.

n Reforming income-driven repayment, which is intended to provide an affordable pathway out of debt for all student loan borrowers – but which recent research by NCLC and our allies has demonstrated is failing to live up to that promise.

n Ending financially devastating default and debt collection policies that hit low-income people, first-generation students, and people of color hardest, pushing many families into poverty, and replacing these failed policies with ones that support those struggling with repayment.

n Restoring the student loan safety net and access to a fresh start, including by ensuring that loan discharge programs are accessible and automated wherever possible, and restoring bankruptcy discharge rights and a statute of limitations on collection. n

Follow NCLC’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project blog for legal resources and guidance for advocates and borrowers: studentloanborrowerassistance.org

We (Still) Must Fix the Broken

“Unless the system itself is fixed, we’ll be in the same crisis five years from now.

In Their Own Words: The Next Generation of Advocates

NCLC hosted five talented legal interns this summer, immersing them in the world of consumer law and advocacy in a productive 15-week program.

Below, our 2022 summer interns share reflections on their NCLC experiences:

“The first thing I learned about NCLC was that it focused on racial justice. That’s what drew me to the internship program. I ended up learning a lot about the nexus of criminal justice and consumer law – an area of law I hadn’t even heard of a year before.”

– Paige Lehman (Current 3L, Washington University School of Law)

“I spent a lot of time developing a damages theory for a case in which we alleged that a tenant screening company’s practices were discriminatory. I eventually got to present my theory to a group of senior attorneys. It was a little nerve-wracking – but also really validating to see my theory taken seriously and discussed on its merits.”

– Talia Rothstein (Current 3L, Yale Law School)

“I started to realize that everything at NCLC is interconnected. Getting to work on a range of issues showed me how NCLC attorneys have their own specialties, but also know a little bit about everything. I’m looking forward to returning as a fellow to focus

on building wealth in communities of color through affordable homeownership.”

– Nketiah “Ink” Berko (Current 3L, Yale Law School, Incoming Post-Graduate NCLC Legal Fellow)

“The level of sophistication and detail that NCLC puts into its work is pretty astounding. It’s hard to fully appreciate when you’re on the outside applying for the internship, but every item I worked on was reviewed thoroughly by the country’s foremost experts.”

– Wesley Ward (Current 3L, University of Michigan School of Law)

“I’ve often been told that it’s rare for young attorneys to find positions involving a wide range of legal work – but at NCLC, I got to work on a really interesting mix of issues. I was able to start developing a variety of advocacy skills that are essential for building a career in public interest law.”

– Tom Cassaro (Current 3L, New York University School of Law) n

Welcoming Our Newest NCLC’ers

Michelle Bates Deakin serves in a newly created role as NCLC’s Chief Communications Officer. As part of the organization’s senior management team, Michelle oversees the development and implementation of communications strategies to bolster the impact of NCLC’s advocacy.

Prior to joining NCLC, Michelle served as Director of Communications at the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation and as Managing Director of Media Relations and Public Information at Harvard Law School. Her career in strategic communications and journalism has focused on legal issues and social justice.

Anna Anderson is a staff attorney focusing primarily on student loan issues. Prior to her work at NCLC, she was a Supervising Attorney at Legal Assistance of Western New York (LawNY), where she oversaw the Consumer Protection Unit, helping eliminate more than $1,000,000 in debt for low-income New Yorkers.

In addition to her student loan work, Anna is the co-founder of the National Coalition of Nursing Home Debt Advocates and works with lawyers across the country to help stop illegal and abusive debt collection practices in the nursing home industry. Anna began her public interest career in legal services as an AmeriCorps volunteer and Equal Justice Works Fellow.

Nicole Cabañez joined NCLC with a prestigious Skadden Fellowship, and will focus on language access for consumers with limited English proficiency and financial inclusion/ consumer justice for immigrants. The Skadden Fellowship Foundation provides two-year Fellowships to recent law graduates to pursue the practice of public interest law full-time. A recent graduate of Yale Law School, Nicole is based in NCLC’s Washington, D.C., office.

Dr. Peter Kahn has been named NCLC’s Senior Medical Advisor for Public Health and Policy. Dr. Kahn is a fellow in the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, who has focused on health policy with a particular interest in the impact of climate change and utilities on health policy. Dr. Kahn is excited to continue collaborating with NCLC on topics pertaining to medicine.

Welcome aboard to all – and thanks to all whose support makes these additions possible! n

Charles Delbaum: A Committed Advocate for Consumers Retires

I am not sure it is possible to say that anything positive came out of Hurricane Katrina, but the fact that the circumstances enabled NCLC to bring Charles Delbaum on board as an advocate and senior litigator was a fortuity that has paid extraordinary dividends for the past 17 years.

Charles brought to us his stellar litigation skills, which had been expertly honed in his prior legal services and private practice work. With intelligence and integrity, he greatly enhanced NCLC’s reputation and credibility. Charles’ work on our manuals and his participation in our conferences has been invaluable.

Charles also won more than his fair share of his cases over the course of his NCLC career, securing tens of millions of dollars in relief for

low-income and other abused and deceived consumers. These victories included a $7.3 million judgment and subsequent settlement with an unscrupulous payday lender that bamboozled thousands of low-income residents of Navajo country through illegal loans in Daye v. Community Financial Service Centers, L.L.C. ; a $23 million settlement for borrowers wronged by a student loan lender in Bible v. United Student Aid Fund ; and countless other hard-won victories for his clients.

As Charles retires from full-time service at NCLC, we thank him for his remarkable service to the organization and our consumer advocacy community, and wish Charles, Marjorie, and Jessica much good health and happiness together in the future. n

Stuart Rossman, NCLC Litigation Director, On Behalf of a Grateful NCLC

Charles Delbaum (L) and Stuart Rossman (R)

NCLC Summer Internship Class of 2022 (from left): Nketiah “Ink” Berko, Talia Rothstein, NCLC Litigation Director/Internship Director Stuart Rossman, Paige Lehman, Wesley Ward, NCLC Staff Attorney/Internship Director Jerry Battle, Tom Cassaro

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The nonprofit National Consumer Law Center® (NCLC®) works for economic justice for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. through policy analysis and advocacy, publications, litigation, and training.