Payday Lending Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Americans for Financial Reform

Stop the Debt Trap Statement: Mulvaney, Predatory Lenders Signal Plan to Kill Payday Lending Rule

“This move shows the level of influence that payday lenders have over Mick Mulvaney, who for years received campaign contributions while a member of Congress. With today’s announcement, Mulvaney is sending an unmistakable signal that he wants to kill this common-sense regulation.” Payday loans “trap borrowers in an unaffordable cycle of debt, causing severe financial harm such as bank penalty fees, delinquency on other bills, or even bankruptcy. There is no reason to reopen the rule, and doing so shows disdain for consumer protection and low-income communities that are targeted by these debt trap loans.”

AFR in the News: Private Equity Cashes In On Payday Lending

“[I]t is a telling sign of just how dysfunctional the American economy has become that some of the nation’s biggest private equity firms are now heavily invested in the payday loan business and its slightly more respectable cousin, subprime installment lending. A new report from Americans for Financial Reform and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project details dozens of such arrangements involving some of the biggest names on Wall Street and the scuzziest operations on Main Street.”

AFR Release: New Report Documents Deepening Links Between Payday Lending and Private Equity

Private equity moguls have invested heavily in the payday and installment lending. The development puts private equity firms in the position to profit from efforts by payday lenders to roll back an important new rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

AFR Statement: House Committee Approves a Package of Wall Street Giveaways

“The package includes legislation that would release the nation’s largest banks from measures to prevent a financial crisis, saving them billions of dollars in expenses,” AFR’s Lisa Donner said. “It would also allow banks and fintech firms to cooperate in new forms of payday lending, and make investment products riskier for mom-and-pop savers. And it’s all happening against the backdrop of a big proposed tax cut for Wall Street.”

AFR in the News: Ohio Must Reform Payday Lending (Canton Record-Courier)

“Oversight of payday loans is particularly lax in Ohio… State voters approved reforms in 2008, but the industry found ways around the restrictions on interest rates and other measures designed to protect borrowers… ‘Payday and car title lenders profit from repeatedly dragging hard-pressed people deeper and deeper into debt, and taking advantage of families when they are financially vulnerable,’ Lisa Donner, with Americans for Financial Reform, told the Associated Press. ‘Curbing the ability to push loans that borrowers clearly cannot repay is a key protection.'”

Open Letter to Banks (and OCC): Don’t Make Debt Trap Payday Loans

“In 2013, the FDIC and OCC issued guidance aimed at curbing the harms of these debt trap loans. At the same time, the Federal Reserve issued a supervisory statement to the same end… But today, banks are attacking the FDIC and OCC protections that have prevented banks from trapping people in unaffordable payday loans.”
We write to ask for the bank’s pledge that it will not begin making payday loans, and that it will oppose the
rollback of the regulatory guidance, which would make it easier for other banks to do so.

AFR in the News: Consumer Watchdog Cracks Down on Payday Lenders, Bucking Trump (Bloomberg)

“Consumer advocates say tougher rules are needed because lenders often prey on desperate borrowers who are living paycheck to paycheck by trapping them in debt. ‘Payday and car title lenders profit from repeatedly dragging hard-pressed people deeper and deeper into debt, and taking advantage of families when they are financially vulnerable,’ Lisa Donner, the Americans for Financial Reform’s executive director, said in a statement. ‘Curbing the ability to push loans that borrowers clearly cannot repay is a key protection.’”

AFR in the News: Federal regulator clamps down on payday lending industry (Chicago Tribune)

“A federal regulator announced new restrictions Thursday on the payday lending industry, a move that is likely to face resistance in Congress. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s finalized rules largely reflect what the agency proposed last year. They are the first nationwide regulation of the industry, which had largely been left to the states.”

Joint Statement: CFPB Payday Lending Rule Will Disrupt Abusive Lending, Protect Families

“At the heart of the rule is the common sense principle that lenders check a borrower’s ability to repay before lending money. While praising the CFPB for pushing to stop the debt trap, the coalition calls on the Bureau to build on this progress by quickly working to develop regulations to protect consumers from abusive long-term, high-cost loans. Also, strong state laws, such as rate caps, must continue to be defended and enacted.”

Joint Statement: House Approves Special Protections for Payday Lenders

“The vote [came] during the debate over the Financial Services and General Government bill, which funds some basic functions of the federal government, including the Treasury Department… Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) introduced an amendment to take this language out of the appropriations bill and continue to allow the CFPB to regulate payday lenders as it regulates all financial services businesses. The amendment failed with four Republicans joining Ellison to protect borrowers and three Democrats choosing to side with payday predators.”