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.
New report offers details on over 20 cases of private equity investment in payday lending, and how the new owners or investors seek greater rewards from this predatory business.
Disguised as a regulatory relief for small businesses, this legislation would exempt from registration requirements merger and acquisition brokers of transactions involving quite large privately held companies, while opening a deregulatory window of opportunity for private equity firms to exploit.
On Friday, Senate Republicans passed a bill with some $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, overwhelmingly weighted to the wealthiest Americans. The bill lavishes tax cuts on Wall Street banks, on executives who can manipulate their legal status to obtain a lower tax rate, and on operations in foreign tax havens. In contrast, ordinary Americans earning wages and salaries receive very limited benefits, and in many cases will see their taxes increased.
The Take on Wall Street campaign denounced the proposed tax bills for effectively preserving the carried interest loophole for Wall Street money managers, a loophole Trump promised to close during the campaign trail.
“A new report released this week by the HedgeClippers campaign shows just how much money is being spent in [the 19th] district by hedge fund managers… $5.5 million [to protect] the carried-interest loophole. ‘[Q]uite often when you have a lot of money coming in from Wall Street… people vote in lockstep with what Wall Street wants,’” says Alexis Goldstein, Senior Policy Analyst at Americans for Financial Reform.
“The bill’s opponents — including [Rep. Maxine] Waters and the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform — question why Congress would undo some restrictions on private equity just as the S.E.C. was identifying problems in the industry. In particular, the opponents have raised concerns about a provision that would reduce the amount of information that large private equity fund managers report to regulators…”
AFR and 5 other organizations urge Congress to reject HR 5424, a dangerous bill that would allow private funds to evade SEC examinations, and to distribute misleading and even fraudulent advertising materials.
AFR wrote to the SEC to urge them to vigorously investigate what appear to be ongoing, widespread violations of securities law by private equity advisers.
“[W]ith populist anger aimed at Wall Street during this presidential election season rising, the ‘carried interest loophole,’ which allows the managers of private-equity firms to pay a lower tax rate, is back in the spotlight. ‘This year is just different. There has been a populist surge politically in both parties,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform. ‘Having the wealthiest people in the financial system paying a lower rate than everyone else is even harder to swallow. People realize that it doesn’t have to be like this.'”