Director, Consumer & Housing Project at the NC Justice Center
Date Recorded:
March 5, 2020
Interviewed by:
Charlie Zong
Al Ripley has been the Director of the Consumer Action Network and a Housing Policy Specialist at the North Carolina Justice Center since 2003. His roles include advocating for consumer and housing policy before the North Carolina state legislature and state agencies, and serving as counsel in cases before the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Before joining the North Carolina Justice Center, Ripley worked with the Center for Responsible Lending and Self-Help Credit Union. Ripley holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Education from North Carolina State University.
In this radio interview by Clayton Henkel for NC Policy Watch, Ripley discusses the rise in foreclosure rates in North Carolina along with the increase in prominence of predatory lending, foreclosure scams, and equity stripping. Ripley also discusses the Homeowner and Homebuyer Protection Act, which regulates the mortgage market to decrease foreclosure scams and address lease-option contracts.
Ripley, Al. “The Last Thing North Carolina Needs.” NC Policy Watch, 19 Feb. 2010.
In this article for NC Policy Watch, Ripley discusses the failings of higher interest rates and fees on small loans and details their negative implications for consumer protections in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Ripley argues that raising interest rates on small loans would be exploitative of poor communities and asserts that interest rates and fees should rather be lowered.
In this article written alongside Tom Jacobson and Hank Klein, Ripley discusses the need for strong regulations against predatory lending by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alongside the state laws banning the practice.
In this media release by the North Carolina Justice Center, Ripley is quoted several times arguing that the consumer loan rule proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is inadequate to control the rampant abuses associated with the payday loan industry.
