The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is a nonprofit organization research and policy group based in Durham, North Carolina, United States.
[1] Established in 2002 by Self-Help, CRL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization that focuses on financial products and services, including mortgages, credit cards, payday lending, and bank overdraft fees.
[4] Martin Eakes, the current CEO of CRL and Self-Help, describes the mission of the organization as follows: "The economic problems we've seen in subprime lending came about through a narrow focus on self-enrichment among brokers, lenders and investors on Wall Street.
"[5] An investigation by Politico revealed CRL had a heavy role in helping the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) draft new regulations on payday loans.
According to Politico, "The group regularly sent over policy papers, traded emails and met multiple times with top officials responsible for drafting the rule.