Policy

Nation’s Leading Nonprofit Small Business Lender Announces its Policy Priorities for the 118th Congress

We identified a number of positive recommendations in the Federal Reserve’s proposal for the Community Reinvestment Act. However, we also found areas that could be further strengthened.

Luz Urrutia, CEO of Opportunity Fund, had the opportunity to participate as a Small Entity Representative in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (“SBREFA”) panel.

Individual consumers are protected by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), which requires transparent disclosure of loan terms, fees and annual percentage rates (APR) of loans. Small businesses, however, are not covered by this law, leaving them vulnerable to misleading or irresponsible lending practices.

On May 20, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced its final rule on the agency’s regulations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), just 40 days after the public comment period ended.

Earlier this week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released their plan to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The two governing bodies are soliciting feedback on their proposals, due mid-February. This is our first statement on the proposed changes; we will be submitting a…

Luz Urrutia, CEO of Opportunity Fund, spoke at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Symposium: Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act on November 6 in Washington, D.C. where she discussed the current state and future outlook of the small business lending marketplace and the urgent need for the CFPB to begin collecting data from commercial lenders in order…

California is on the verge of implementing the most significant financial protection bill in the nation for small business owners, something Accion Opportunity Fund has been advocating for many years.

As a founding member of the Responsible Business Lending Coalition (RBLC), Accion Opportunity Fund is elated to see that Representatives Phillips (D-MN), Timmons (R-SC), and Velazquez (D-NY) have introduced a bi-partisan resolution in support of the RBLC’s Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights.

The Responsible Business Lending Coalition (RBLC), a group of non-profit and for-profit leaders and small business advocates, joined together in 2015 to protect main street from irresponsible small business lending. On May 2nd, the group was honored by the California Reinvestment Coalition in Oakland with a Community Heroes Award.