Dear friend,

The United States is facing an unprecedented crisis in the form of student loan debt, with a national student debt burden of approximately $1.7 trillion. Borrowers are often saddled with monthly payments so high that their debt-to-income ratio prevents them from obtaining a mortgage, leaving them unable to access the greatest wealth building opportunity available to most Americans. Student loan debt also contributes significantly to the racial wealth gap, with Black borrowers shouldering a disproportionate amount of the debt burden. 

At CRL, we’ve been working hard to ensure that student loan borrowers are protected. This year we pushed for a Student Borrowers’ Bill of Rights in North Carolina, which passed through the House Education and Banking Committees and is currently awaiting a hearing in the Finance committee. This legislation would regulate student loan servicing companies, prohibiting them from misleading borrowers towards the most expensive repayment options. Current North Carolina laws offer little protection to student borrowers, leading to many paying more than they need to. 

We need your help to continue fighting for student borrowers in the new year. Will you make a gift to the Center for Responsible Lending today and help us advocate for borrowers of color, rural borrowers, and low-income borrowers who are targeted by predatory lending? Reforming our higher education financing system to one that is fair and equitable is a critical step in closing the racial wealth gap, and we hope we can count on your support as we continue this work.

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is a leading nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on financial fairness and opportunity. Fighting for economic justice for low- and middle-income families, military personnel and veterans, and people of color is our mission and highest priority.

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