Administration’s actions contradict affordability claims expected in president’s speech tonight
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With this evening’s State of the Union address expected to feature the president arguing that his administration is tackling our nation’s affordability crisis, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) President Mike Calhoun issued the following statement:
President Trump’s Administration has repeatedly greenlit predatory loans with annual interest rates over 100%, discrediting his claim to support a strong rate cap. The Administration’s actions have exposed more Americans to unaffordable credit, including payday, ‘rent-a-bank’ installment, and overdraft loans as well as high credit card late fees.
At a bare minimum, this Administration should deny an application for a national bank charter from Enova, a lender that charges up to 300% APR – an application that has been fast-tracked through a limited public comment period.
Congress should enact recently-introduced bills from Senator Reed to extend the rate cap that protects servicemembers so it covers everyone in America (S. 3793) and from Senator Whitehouse to explicitly apply state usury laws to banks (S. 3721).
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Press Contact: Matthew Kravitz matthew.kravitz@responsiblelending.org