CAPAC Chairwoman Judy Chu Passes Amendment to Protect Limited English Proficient Consumers from Abusive Lenders

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), introduced and passed an amendment to the Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Act (H.R. 1315) to protect consumers with limited English proficiency from abusive lending practices.

“Many consumers, especially recent immigrants and minorities, are particularly vulnerable to abusive lending practices because of their limited English skills,” said Congresswoman Chu. “A lender may discuss the terms of an agreement with them in Mandarin or Spanish, but the contract is written in English. This means some consumers are signing forms that they don’t even understand, or agreeing to terms that are completely different from what they discussed. This amendment allows us to begin addressing this problem so that we can protect all Americans from getting trapped by predatory and deceptive loans.”

The amendment, which passed the House unanimously by a voice vote, requires a specially designated Commissioner to conduct research on how language barriers can lead to unfair lending practices and issue a report on ways to protect consumers.

During her past role as an Assemblywoman in the California state legislature, Congresswoman Chu successfully passed a bill into law that required companies negotiating sales contracts in an Asian language to provide a written contract in that same language.

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The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is comprised of Members of Congress of Asian and Pacific Islander descent and members who have a strong dedication to promoting the well-being of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Currently Chaired by Congresswoman Judy Chu, CAPAC has been addressing the needs of the AAPI community in all areas of American life since it was founded in 1994.