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Protect the Military Lending Act
September 20, The Hill
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has vowed to end proactive oversight of payday lenders and other predatory lenders, accusing his own agency’s supervisors of being “overly aggressive.” The MLA’s protections include clear-cut guidelines for bank and non-bank lenders. Among them, lenders can’t charge service members higher than a 36 percent interest rate, can’t push them into forced arbitration, and can’t charge a penalty for early payment.
More Coverage:
Vets Groups Urge Trump Administration to Keep Pressure on GI Bill Fraud | Military.com
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Rev. Amelia Richardson Dress: Support caps on payday lending; vote yes on Proposition 111
September 29, Times-Call
When the money runs out before the month does, many find themselves drawn to predatory “payday lending.” Which is often the start of a vicious cycle of debt. In Colorado, payday lenders are allowed to charge triple digit interest rates, up to 215 percent APR. Next month they may vote to eliminate these predatory loans.
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Our endorsements on propositions and initiatives |The Journal
Top consumer bureau official blasts colleague over blog posts dismissing racism
September 28, The Hill
Ficklin [director of the CFPB’s fair lending office] called for Mulvaney to ditch a planned bureau structure change that would give policy director Eric Blankenstein control of lending discrimination cases after she said she read Blankenstein’s “deeply disturbing and offensive” writings from 2004.
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OF COURSE TRUMP’S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION OFFICIAL THINKS USING THE N-WORD IS N.B.D. | Vanity Fair
CFPB Official Overseeing Discrimination Questioned Hate Crimes in the Past | Wall Street Journal
Payday loan victims bilked by former racecar driver to receive $505M
September 27, CBS NEWS
More than a million victims of an online payday lender called AMG Services will get refunds totaling $505 million, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday, the largest litigated settlement in the consumer protection agency’s history.
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Feds to return $505M from Tucker’s payday loan scheme | Kansas City Star
CBF seeks ‘intervenor’ status in case to defend restrictions on predatory lending
September 24, Baptist Global News
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has requested to join litigation to defend a regulation intended to restrict industry practices that create debt traps for consumers. CBF is requesting “intervenor” status in a case filed by two industry associations challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that will strengthen protections for consumers against predatory lending tactics.
Nevada can, and should, outlaw this industry
September 20, Nevada Current
“The experiences of borrowers in payday-free states show that eliminating the payday debt trap does not force consumers to use products that cause greater harm than payday loans,” the piece quotes the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) as saying.
More Coverage:
A Prescription To Improve Payday Loan Businesses | Nevada Public Radio
Man who led effort to shut down Arkansas payday lending stores calls U.S. Bank’s new loans ‘very disturbing’
September 19, Arkansas Democrat Gazette
“This type of product isn’t a safe alternative to a payday loan,” Rebecca Borne, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, said in a statement. “And we reject the notion that bank loans as high as 70 % to 88 % APR [annual percentage rate] will drive out higher-priced credit by nonbanks.”