Press Releases
December 1, 2017
Headlines in Washington Post: “Trump’s Swampiest Move Yet”
International Business Times: “Would Trump’s CFPB Pick Mulvaney Back Consumers Or Payday Lenders?”
New York Post: “Payday Lenders Have New Hope With Trump’s CFPB”
And More...
Credit: Salt Lake City Tribune’s Pat Bagley
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Mick Mulvaney, who was unlawfully named as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has been excoriated by news outlets for his disturbing ties to the exploitative payday lending industry. His cozy relationship is especially concerning as the CFPB will be...
December 1, 2017
"The line in the sand is clear, you’re either siding with the payday lenders or you’re siding with consumers."
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), along with Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Tom Graves (R-Ga.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would repeal the new payday and car title lending rule finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau) in October. The announcement to roll back this important consumer protection comes off the heels of the...
November 21, 2017
Faith Leaders Hand Deliver Letter Signed by 230 Groups
DURHAM, N.C. – As a federal agency re-opens the door to predatory payday lending for some banks, scores of groups representing a broad cross-section of Americans are saying “not so fast.” Advocates are mailing hard copies of an open letter to banks and regulators, and faith leaders are delivering the letter directly to bank branches, some where the congregations hold their accounts. The letter, which urges the banks to pledge not to start making payday loans, was coordinated by the Stop the Debt Trap campaign and is signed by 230 faith...
November 16, 2017
Federal Legislation Would Open the Door for Triple-Digit APR Loans to Enter States with Interest Rate Caps
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Financial Services Committee last night passed H.R. 3299, the so-called Madden bill, which would make it easier for payday lenders and other usurious lenders to use "rent-a-bank" schemes to charge distressed borrowers triple-digit interest rates that would otherwise violate state law. Among those threatened by this legislation and its Senate companion S. 1642 are more than 90 million Americans who live in states with interest-rate caps of 36% or lower on...
October 5, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Center for Responsible Lending, Americans for Financial Reform, People’s Action, and representatives of the Stop the Debt Trap campaign, hosted a press teleconference with reporters to discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new rule to limit short-term payday and car-title lenders’ ability to trap borrowers in an endless cycle of debt.
The payday lending rule will result in fewer families falling into financial ruin. At the heart of the rule is the common sense principle that lenders check a borrower’s ability to repay before lending money....
October 5, 2017
Rule is Key First Step to Stopping the Debt Trap
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, national consumer and civil rights advocates welcomed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new rule to limit short-term payday and car-title lenders’ ability to trap borrowers in an endless cycle of debt.
The payday lending rule will result in fewer families falling into financial ruin. At the heart of the rule is the common sense principle that lenders check a borrower’s ability to repay before lending money. While praising the CFPB for pushing to stop the debt trap, the coalition calls on the...
October 2, 2017
AB 1636 will boost transparency of payday lenders across state
OAKLAND, CALIF. – California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law AB 1636, a bill introduced by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) that aims to give the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) the tools it needs to increase transparency of payday lenders. Under California law, payday lenders can charge rates as high as 460% annual percentage rate. The new law will strengthen DBO’s ability to regulate and review lenders’ business reports, including granting the agency authority to issue penalties on...
September 20, 2017
Senate and House Legislation would end the payday lending debt trap
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), and nearly 40 national and state organizations sent a letter urging Members of Congress to pass the Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act, a bicameral bill introduced by U.S. Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and U.S. Representatives Matt Cartwright (D-Penn.) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). The bill would protect consumers from predatory lenders by capping payday and car-title...
July 12, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) policy analysis, "Been There; Done That," warns that banks are seeking the repeal of consumer protections established in 2013 that ensured that banks could no longer keep borrowers trapped in unaffordable payday loans.
Six banks—Wells Fargo, US Bank, Regions Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Bank of Oklahoma and GuarantyBank—were making predatory payday loans to their own account holders until 2013, when a public outcry and risks to the banks’ safety and soundness led bank regulators to establish commonsense guidelines to curb these...
July 7, 2017
OAKLAND, CA – The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) recently released its 2016 report on the state’s payday lending industry. The study showed the number of seniors caught in the debt trap, age 62 and older, nearly tripled since 2015. The study also showed that annual percentage rate (APR) for these payday loans rose to 372 percent, up from 366 percent reported in the previous year and that the industry is still heavily relying on repeat borrowers.
"The number of seniors caught in the vicious payday lending debt trap is concerning and indicative of the type of group the...