Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

A few high-cost lenders are evading state consumer protections through rent-a-bank schemes. Through these sham arrangements, these companies are exploding right through the interest rate limits that most states have put in place for good reason, to protect people from high-cost debt traps that drain them of their hard-earned income. In the following states, payday lenders are using banks, which aren’t generally subject to state interest rate caps, to make usurious loans that exceed the state’s rate cap. The banks engaging in these schemes are abusing their charters and enabling predatory loans...

A coalition of 61 consumer, civil rights, and community groups sent letters to three federal bank regulators urging them not to allow their banks to help payday lenders evade state interest rate limits. The groups sent separate letters to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) , which regulates the only banks currently involved in rent-a-bank schemes; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency , which regulates a national bank that has been in talks with a payday lender; and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System , whose banks so far do not appear to be engaged in rent-a...

Download this factsheet for more information on the top three principles against rent-a-bank arrangements: Long Precedent Against Rent-A-Bank Schemes Has Served Banks and Consumers Well. More Recent Rent-a-Bank Arrangements (with FDIC-supervised banks) Include Grossly Irresponsible Loans. Change in Course Would Invite Risk, Backlash, and Erosion of Confidence in Banking System.

Consumer watchdog groups urged the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to take action immediately to implement the payment provisions in its payday lending rule, whose compliance date is August 19, 2019. These provisions restrict payday and vehicle-title lenders from attempting to withdraw money from borrowers’ bank accounts after two attempts have failed, a practice that significantly harms struggling consumers. The safeguards will help consumers avoid fees for unsuccessful debit attempts that can also put their bank accounts in jeopardy. The CFPB is refusing to take steps to...

A coalition of national consumer and civil rights groups wrote letters to three top banking regulators – the FDIC, OCC and Federal Reserve – on the importance of preventing the reemergence of debt-trap bank payday loans. View the letter to the FDIC , letter to the OCC , and letter to the Fed . These letters were signed by Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Federation of America, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP, and the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients). The letters all enclose another...

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), as part of a coalition of civil rights, consumer, and labor groups, submitted an official comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), excoriating CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger’s plan to gut a 2017 CFPB rule that was issued to stop payday loan debt traps. The coalition’s comment letter, submitted on the last day of the comment period, is a comprehensive rebuttal to Kraninger’s rationales for rolling back the Payday Rule. The letter shows how her proposal fails to account for ample evidence of consumer harm of these 300%+ APR loans...

On April 30, 2019, the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions convened a hearing on “ Ending Debt Traps in the Payday and Small Dollar Credit Industry .” Download the full written and oral testimony of CRL's Diane Standaert below: Download the full testimony. (PDF) Download the oral testimony. (PDF) Watch Diane Standaert's opening statement and the entire hearing:

Payday and car-title loans typically carry annual percentage rates (APR) of at least 300%. These high-cost loans are marketed as quick solutions to a financial emergency. Research demonstrates, however, that they frequently lead to debt that is nearly impossible to escape. In addition, these loans are related to a cascade of other financial consequences, such as increased overdraft fees, delinquency on other bills, involuntary loss of bank accounts, and even bankruptcy. For car-title loans, the end result is too often the repossession of the borrower’s car, a critical asset for many people...

Although marketed as quick cash for financial emergencies, payday and car-title loans typically become long-term debt that drains hundreds of dollars—if not thousands—from consumers. These small dollar loans carry average annual percentage rates of 391% that make it very difficult to escape a cycle of debt that can last months or years. Either through direct access to borrower bank accounts or threats to repossess a borrower’s car, lenders gain extreme leverage over borrowers who come to later understand how unaffordable the loans really are. Besides owing more money for fees than for the loan...

The organizations listed below submitted this comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on its new leadership’s proposed delay of a 2017 rule the agency had issued to stop payday and car title loans from trapping consumers in debt. The letter rebuts the CFPB’s rationale for proposing a 15-month delay of the payday rule, which the agency is now also moving to gut by removing the common sense requirement that lenders generally verify that borrowers can repay a loan. The organizations joining their voices in opposition to this harmful action are: Center for Responsible...