Interest Rate, Usury & Other Credit Laws Archives

CFPB Guts Curbs on Unaffordable 400% APR Payday Loans

July 7, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 7, 2020 Washington, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its final rule gutting the protections against unaffordable payday loans. The previous payday loan rule, issued under former CFPB director Richard Cordray in October 2017, limited unaffordable loans that trap families in a cycle of debt. The CFPB…

Advocates Slam FDIC Proposed Rule for Industrial Loan Companies as Invitation for Predatory Lending

July 2, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2, 2020 The bank regulator’s plan, described as “recipe for disaster” and as a way to “fuel financial exclusion,” provides an avenue for lenders to evade state laws that cap interest rates and to harm families suffering most in this economic downturn. WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Consumer Law Center, on…

Advocates Condemn FDIC Rule that Encourages Predatory High-Cost Loans; Call on Congress to Pass Federal 36% Interest Rate Cap Limit

June 25, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 25, 2020 Media Contacts: National Consumer Law Center: Jan Kruse ([email protected]) Center for Responsible Lending: Matthew Kravitz ([email protected]) Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund: Diop Harris ([email protected]) Washington, D.C. – Consumer advocates criticized the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) for today finalizing a rule that encourages online non-bank lenders to launder…

Advocates Praise Rent-a-Bank Ruling Upholding State Interest Rate Caps

June 10, 2020

Colorado Court Follows “Madden” Decision that Banks Can’t Assign Bank Privileges to Nonbank Lenders Washington, D.C. – Consumer advocates praised yesterday’s ruling by a Colorado court upholding the Colorado Attorney General’s claim that an online lender, Marlette Funding (dba Best Egg), must abide by Colorado’s interest rate limits when it purchases loans originated by a…

Advocates Praise D.C. Attorney General Suit Against Predatory High-Cost Rent-a-Bank Lender

June 5, 2020

Elevate charged 99% to 251% APR despite D.C.’s 6% to 24% rate cap FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 5, 2020 National Consumer Law Center Contacts: Jan Kruse ([email protected]), Lauren Saunders ([email protected]) Washington, D.C. – Consumer advocates praised today’s announcement by District of Columbia (DC) Attorney General Karl Racine that he has filed a lawsuit against online lender…

Advocates Condemn Rent-a-Bank Rule that Encourages Predatory High-Cost Loans; Call on Congress to Pass Federal 36% Interest Rate Cap Limit

May 29, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MAY 29, 2020 Media Contacts: National Consumer Law Center: Jan Kruse ([email protected]) Center for Responsible Lending: Matthew Kravitz ([email protected]) Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund: Carter Dougherty ([email protected]) Washington, D.C. – Consumer advocates slammed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for its final rule issued today that encourages online…

FDIC to Repeal 36% Rate Cap and Bank Payday Loan Guidance, but Banks Should Not Take the Bait

May 20, 2020

New bank regulator guidance could permit balloon-payment loans but emphasizes responsible lending WASHINGTON, D.C. – As our nation grapples with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced plans today to repeal two guidances that protect consumers against high-cost bank payday loans over 36%, and four federal bank regulators…

Civil Rights and Consumer Groups Condemn “Emergency” Regulatory Guidance that Allows Banks to Make Payday Loans

March 26, 2020

Banks should not embrace this terrible idea, especially as they are borrowing for free Washington, D.C. – Today, under the cover of a national crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the National Credit Union Administration issued…

Predatory Installment Lending in the States: 2020

February 28, 2020

his report surveys the battleground as of 2020. It reports on the annual percentage rates (APRs) that the 50 states and the District of Columbia allow nonbank lenders to charge for a sample $500 six-month loan and a sample $2,000 two-year loan.

Rent-a-Bank Schemes and New Debt Traps: Assessing Efforts to Evade State Consumer Protections and Interest Rate Cap

February 5, 2020

Today we are facing the biggest threat in decades to states‘ historic power to prevent predatory lending: ―Rent-a-bank lending, where state-regulated lenders launder their loans up to 160% annual percentage rate (APR) through banks in order to evade state interest rate caps. These schemes are spreading around the country and are starting to explode. Payday…

Consumer and Civil Rights Groups Strongly Oppose FDIC Rent-a-Bank Payday Proposal that Would Sidestep State Interest Rate Caps

February 5, 2020

Washington, D.C. – Eleven national consumer and civil-rights groups submitted a comment letter late yesterday to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) strongly opposing the federal banking regulator’s proposal, which risks green lighting triple-digit rent-a-bank schemes. High-cost lenders use these schemes to funnel their loans through rogue banks to try to avoid state limits on…

Consumer and Civil Rights Groups Urge Federal Banking Regulator to Stop Rent-a-Bank Payday Loan Schemes

January 22, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22, 2020 Groups Strongly Oppose OCC Proposal that Would Bypass State Rate Caps to Allow High-Cost Predatory Loans Washington, D.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending, National Consumer Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Federation…

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