Category Archives: Predatory Lending

Nerd Wallet Publishes Important Collection of Stories About Rent-to-Own

by Jeff Sovern The landing page is here.  Here is an excerpt from one story, Kicking in Doors and Crushing Credit: How Rent-A-Center Torments Customers, though other stories on the web site merit attention, and there is more to this one than we can include here: Virginia real estate investor Olivia Quinn says she lost her […]

WSJ Again Calls on President to Fire “President Cordray”

In an editorial titled President Cordray Strikes Again. This time, it's the payday lending rule that has the WSJ up in arms. Here's the conclusion: The recent rule-makings give the President more cause to dismiss the director, and a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has held that he can be removed at will. Mr. […]

CFPB Finalizes Payday Lending Rule

According to the press release: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today finalized a rule that is aimed at stopping payday debt traps by requiring lenders to determine upfront whether people can afford to repay their loans. These strong, common-sense protections cover loans that require consumers to repay all or most of the debt at […]

House Again Passes Bill to Put Consumer Protection at Risk, This Time, In an Appropriations Bill

by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, the House passed an appropriations bill that incorporates provisions from the Financial Choice Act that would cripple the CFPB.  According to Law360: The base bill would make a number of changes to the CFPB, including bringing it under the purview of the normal appropriations process. In addition, the bill would remove […]

WSJ: Consumer Watchdog to Scale Back Payday Rules

by Jeff Sovern Here. Excerpt: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, still under the leadership of an Obama-appointed director, is expected to scale back its new rule on small-dollar lending as it rushes to complete the regulation * * * * * * The rule is now expected to focus on short-term payday loans that are […]

American Banker: CFPB to act fast on payday rule ahead of likely Cordray exit

Here, by Kate Berry.  The sources for that information mostly consist of unnamed "experts," but here's a quote that may shed some light on who one of the experts is: "There is no way that Cordray is going back home to Ohio without" a payday rule, said Isaac Boltansky, a policy analyst at Compass Point Research […]

House Appropriations Committee Passes Bill To Gut Consumer Financial Protection and Repeal CFPB’s Authority to Regulate Arbitration

by Jeff Sovern On a party line vote of 31-21, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Financial Services Appropriation bill.  Section 930 of the bill repeals the CFPB's authority to regulate arbitration.  Section 926 would subject the CFPB to the congressional appropriations process, thereby making it more accountable to lobbyists. Section 927 would gut the […]

Who Is Jeffrey Joseph, CFPB Critic?

by Jeff Sovern Last month, Jeffrey Joseph posted Tyrannical CFPB tarnishes July 4th holiday in The Hill. Well, ok; others have so claimed, including House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling. Joseph is described at the end of the op-ed only as "a business professor at the George Washington University School of Business."  I was curious to see what […]

The House Appropriations Bill Is Much Worse for Consumers Than Originally Reported

by Jeff Sovern We posted yesterday about the House Appropriations Bill. I haven't studied the bill, but on a quick look, it contains a number of objectionable provisions from the Financial Choice Act (already passed by the House), including repeal of the CFPB's power to regulate arbitration and payday lenders and to block conduct on […]

Skiba & Xiao Article on Consumer Litigation Funding

Paige Marta Skiba and Jean Xiao of Vanderbilt have written Consumer Litigation Funding: Just Another Form of Payday Lending? 80 Law and Contemporary Problems (2017).  Here is the abstract: This article provides a side-by-side comparison of payday lending and consumer litigation funding in order to aid policymakers. Funding has similarities with payday lending because they are […]