Amici submit this brief to provide the Court with factual evidence concerning the similarities in product design, function, and consumer harms between Empower Finance, Inc.’s “Cash Advance” often marketed as “Earned Wage Access” and traditional payday loans. These products function as loans—app-based payday loans. Payday Loan Apps (“PLA”) operate as a financial technology iteration of the same high-cost, short-term lending model long associated with storefront payday lenders.
Drawing on their research and expertise, Amici explain how the structure and operation of these app-based payday loans, including associated fees, fit squarely within the definitions of credit under the Military Lending Act, based on the statute’s text, its implementing regulations, and regulatory guidance. Amici also document the consumer harms associated with these loans and the public interest in protecting borrowers, particularly active-duty servicemembers and their eligible dependents, from high-cost, harmful cycles of debt. Amici offer this perspective to assist the Court in understanding how these products function in practice and how their design aligns with longstanding forms of high-cost, predatory lending regulated under federal law.
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