Highlight
February 9, Bezinga: 'Know Before You Owe' Prepaid Card User Protections At Risk From New Senate Bill
Article calls out a congressional effort to roll back the CFPB’s new protections on kinds of prepaid cards that function as payday loans, with hidden fees that make them not really prepaid.
More Coverage:
Vanity Fair: Republican Effort to Screw Consumers Hits a Speed Bump
Consumer Affairs: GOP lawmakers seek to block prepaid debit card rule
KUTV: Sen. Lee wants prepaid credit card regulations stripped
Rapid City Journal: Trump team moves to quash tighter financial rules
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Millions at stake for Ga. company in fight over regulation of prepaid cards
Partner Statements
Stop The Debt Trap: Collection of press statements in defense of the CFPB rule on payday lending prepaid cards
Top Stories
February 13, Ahwatukee Foothills News: Federal consumer bureau has fought scams that hurt people
Arizona PIRG’s Diane Brown explains why the CFPB is important to Arizonans, including its efforts to rein in car title lending and TCF Bank’s illegal overdraft fees.
February 10, Star Tribune: Exodus Lending, an alternative to payday lenders, makes 100 loans in less than two years
Exodus Lending, which launched two years ago from a Minneapolis Lutheran congregation as the first alternative to payday loans, has made its 100th loan, including to 41 working-poor borrowers who were refinanced from the “payday loan debt trap” and repaid in full.
February 9, Las Cruces Sun-News: Lawmakers should end predatory loans
Editorial board supports a 36% APR cap to reform payday lending in New Mexico.
February 9, Atlanta Journal Constitution: Payday lender to fork over $40 million in Georgia
A South Dakota-based payday lender will pay Georgians $23 million in restitution and forgive all outstanding loans in the state under a lawsuit settlement Attorney General Chris Carr announced Wednesday.
More coverage: Atlanta Business Journal, Atlanta Daily World, Law360
February 9, The Message: Church Opposes Pending Payday Lending Legislation
A measure to expand payday lending, a plan the Indiana Catholic Conference opposes due to its exploitative nature of low income persons, is expected to be heard before a Senate panel by mid-February.
February 8, Inland News Today: Trump signs orders watering down financial regulations
Voices for and against an overhaul of the CFPB in light of Trumps executive order, including AFR’s Lisa Donner commenting on the impact on payday lending and other rules.
February 8, The Journal Gazette: Senate bill to expand payday loans would add to Hoosier families' struggles
This editorial opposes a bill that would allow payday lenders to increase the amount and loan length of their products substantially.
February 7, Tribune Interactive: Commentary: Payday loan companies are robbing Alabamians
Dr. Neal Berte, President- Emeritus of Birmingham-Southern College urges Alabama lawmakers to cap payday lending interest rates. He mentions the Stop the Debt Trap campaign and the cost of the Hatchimal if bought with a payday loan.
February 7, ED DIRT Report: Dollens bill: Interest on ‘Payday Loans’ Would be Slashed'
A state representative is proposing a 60% rate cap on payday loans in Oklahoma.
February 6, IndyStar: Loan sharks circling at Statehouse — again
Newspaper's consumer advocate tears apart a proposal in the Indiana legislature for high-cost longer-term loans.
February 3, CBS MoneyWatch: 5 ways Dodd-Frank has benefited you
As Trump announces his intentions to review Dodd-Frank, this piece runs down five ways the law has helped consumers, including regulating payday lending.
More coverage: Forbes
February 3, KUNM: New Mexico Lawmakers Renew Push To Cap Payday Interest Rates
Legislators are taking aim at the payday and title loan industry in New Mexico once again, seeking to limit exorbitant interest rates often charged by lenders.
February 2, WFMJ: Ohio lawmakers struggle with payday loan caps or changes
Article discusses different perspectives on payday reform in Ohio. Mentions that Sherrod Brown says the state legislature is bought and sold by payday lenders.
January 31, Consumer Affairs: Millions of payday loan ads removed from Google
This article covers consumer groups celebration of Google’s announcement that it has taken down 5 million payday lending ads since it banned them 6 months ago.
January 29, care2.com: Consumer Protection? Not on Trump’s Watch
Care2 makes the case for protecting the CFPB, mentioning payday lending as a scheme that consumers need protection from.
January 27, Northern California Record: Commission: Payday lender ruling ‘a win for California consumers’
The California Department of Business Oversight is pleased with a Dec. 22 California Supreme Court ruling in a nearly decade-long case related to payday lenders’ ties to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska.
January 27, Fortune: Donald Trump Is Targeting an Agency That Has Recovered $11.8 Billion for Consumers
This article outlines the abuses the CFPB has fought against and gives payday lending three paragraphs, going into CFPB’s characterization of it as a debt trap and a cycle of debt.
January 26, Charlotte Observer: Pittenger should leave Dodd-Frank alone
This op ed from CRL's Chris Kukla responding to NC GOP Congressman Robert Pittenger’s promotion of the Financial Choice Act mentions that North Carolina outlawed payday lending and bipartisan opposition has kept it out.
January 26, Consumer Affairs: 10 lessons for communities trying to control payday lending
A new report offers 10 tips for how to move payday lending reform in local communities.
January 25, Commerce Times: Google Gets Rid of 1.7 Billion Bad Ads
Google disabled more than 5 million payday lending ads since banning them six months ago.
January 24, The Cointelegraph: Loan Sharks of Tomorrow? FinTech Companies Move to Predatory Payday Businesses
This article contemplates the entrance of fintech companies into the dirty world of payday lending.