The Administration claims that the CFPB will have to shut down next year because it can’t ask the Federal Reserve for funds if the CFPB decides that the Federal Reserve isn’t operating at a profit (a claim being challenged in 3 different actions currently pending in federal district courts in California and the District of […]
Category Archives: Predatory Lending
The past week has seen the announcement of two proposals to weaken mechanisms for identifying and combatting discriminatory lending practices. Last week, the CFPB issued a proposal to amend Regulation B under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which would eliminate disparate impact claims, significantly narrow the prohibition on statements that would discourage applicants or potential […]
It’s titled Nickel and Dimed: How Payday Loan Apps Drain Workers’ Pay and How to Stop Them. Here’s CRL’s description: Payday loan apps are designed to be a debt trap – much like storefront payday loans. They both draw borrowers into a pattern of repeated borrowing and a succession of fees that pull from already-stretched paychecks, creating […]
When do investments by outsiders turn a tribal business into one that does not share in the tribe’s sovereign immunity? In a case decided today, the Third Circuit attempted to answer that question. The Fort Belknap Indian Community, a Montana-based Indian tribe, created a corporation called the Island Mountain Development Group, which manages another tribe-created […]
In the American Banker (behind paywall but available on Lexis). The essay is about how the CFPB is repeating the mistakes of the past. Excerpt: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is systematically removing guardrails designed to prevent abuses in the consumer finance market. With each retreat from its oversight obligations, the CFPB is expanding the opportunities for firms […]
Here at the Yale Journal of Regulation Notice and Comment blog. John Lewis is Deputy Legal Director at Governing for Impact. Excerpt: Much like the Trump Administration’s attempt to “dismantle and disable the agency entirely,” the administration’s latest effort to prevent CFPB from enforcing vital consumer protections is unlawful. Affected parties—those who stand to benefit from the […]
ProPublica reports that online lenders tied to Native American tribes claim that they aren’t subject to state lending laws, but then have backed away from operating in six states where attorneys have acted forcefully to protect consumers. The story is here.
Read “The Tribal Lending Industry Offers Quick Cash Online at Outrageous Interest Rates. Here’s How It’s Survived,” from ProPublica this week.
Earlier this month, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Inspector General issued a report on refund advance and refund transfer products sold to taxpayers, finding that nearly 16% of taxpayers used such products for the 2023 tax year– with nearly 80% of those taxpayers having worked with just 7 tax return preparation companies. The report […]
The future, they say, is the hardest thing to predict. With that caveat, what can we expect from a second Trump administration for consumer prediction? Some quick thoughts: President-elect Trump will surely ask CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to resign so that he can replace Chopra with someone he prefers. Despite the fact that Vice President-elect […]