Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

Payday, car-title, and similar high-cost loans, typically with interest rates of 100% APR and higher, trap people in crippling long-term debt. CRL advocates for regulators to require lenders to verify borrowers can afford to repay a loan before that loan is issued. CRL also advocates for interest rate caps of no higher than 36% APR and for enforcement of current usury laws.

Filter Results

Comment to OCC Opposing Proposed Rule to Pressure Banks to Support Predatory Lending

The Center for Responsible Lending and several consumer, faith, community, and civil rights groups wrote to strongly oppose an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)’s proposed rule that could unreasonably limit banks’ ability to decide not to serve particular entities, including payday and other predatory lenders. Download the comment letter.

Comment on Oportun’s Bank Charter Application

On December 22, 2020, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) in partnership with several organizations submitted two letters to the OCC in regard to Oportun's application for a bank charter. CRL takes concern with Oportun's poor underwriting standards that harm the consumers they purport to serve; their intimidating debt collection practices; their new partnership with DolEx Check Cashing stores; and...

Sign-on Letter: Opportun's Lending Practices Harm Latino and Low-to-moderate Income Borrowers

On December 22, 2020, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) in partnership with several organizations submitted two letters to the OCC in regard to Oportun's application for a bank charter. CRL takes concern with Oportun's poor underwriting standards that harm the consumers they purport to serve; their intimidating debt collection practices; their new partnership with DolEx Check Cashing stores; and...

Amicus Brief: Support for the Case Against OCC Rule that Encourages Predatory Lending through “Rent-a-bank” Schemes

Civil rights and consumer groups -- Center for Responsible Lending, National Consumer Law Center, East Bay Community Law Center, National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, and National Coalition for Asian Pacific Americans Community Development – filed an amicus brief in support of the attorneys general of California, Illinois, and New York in their case against a rule from the...

Broad Opposition to the CFPB’s Plan to Engage in Payday Loan Disclosure Testing

The Center for Responsible Lending and the undersigned consumer, civil rights, community and faithbased organizations oppose the Bureau’s plans to engage in payday loan disclosure testing. We do so in the broader context of the Bureau’s having repealed much-needed substantive ability-to-repay protections without basis and in light of the overwhelming evidence that disclosures will not protect consumers from the harms...

Payday and Vehicle Title Lending Disproportionately Harm Communities of Color, Exploiting and Perpetuating the Racial Wealth Gap

A legacy of racial discrimination in housing, lending, banking, policing, employment, and otherwise, has produced dramatically inequitable outcomes that persist today. Communities of color, often largely segregated due to the history of redlining and other racially exclusionary housing policy, experience higher rates of poverty, lower wages, and higher cost burdens to pay for basic living expenses. Payday loans cause particular...

Consumer, Civil Rights, and Housing Organizations Welcome the CDFI Fund's Focus on Community Development

The undersigned consumer, civil rights, and housing organizations welcome the CDFI Fund (Fund)’s efforts to more vigorously ensure that the primary mission of any CDFI is to promote community development. CDFIs are uniquely suited to promote community development and expand financial inclusion. At times, however, we see CDFIs use “financial inclusion” as the central purported justification for permitting irresponsible lending...

Comment: Urging the CDFI Fund to Establish Lending Standards for Certification or Renewal

The Center for Responsible Lending, Self-Help Credit Union, Self-Help Federal Credit Union, and Self-Help Ventures Fund welcome the CDFI Fund’s efforts to more vigorously ensure that the primary mission of any CDFI is to promote community development. To that end, we urge the Fund to establish lending standards that function as clear, bright-line eligibility requirements for CDFI certification or renewal...

Factsheet: Ohio Voters Overwhelmingly Support 36% Rate Cap

In 2008, Ohio voters affirmed capping the cost of payday loans in the state at 28% interest; however, payday and car-title lenders engaged in schemes to evade the voter-mandated cap, trapping consumers in a cycle of debt with APRs of over 500%. In 2018, Ohio lawmakers approved some restrictions on these lending schemes, but even with these 2018 changes, payday...

National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders v. CFPB

In the fall of 2017, after more than five years of outreach and research, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a regulation to address harms to consumers caused by payday loans, vehicle-title loans, and certain other loans with similar features. In July 2020, the CFPB issued a new rule that repeals core aspects of the 2017 rule. Payday and...
Displaying 61 - 70 of 167