Category Archives: Predatory Lending

Hensarling Said to Abandon Commission Model for CFPB in Favor of Director Reporting to the President

The WSJ has a report here (behind paywall).  In the next version of the Financial Choice Act, House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling is also reported to be considering eliminating the Bureau's supervisory authority, power to regulate payday lending, consumer complaint database and its research and consumer education functions.  The goal appears to be to […]

New study tells inside story of how local communities use ordinances to say ‘enough’ to payday lenders

Here's the press release:  Jan. 24, 2017— An 18-month study of community approaches to controlling payday lending practices concludes there are 10 lessons for those interested in positively affecting local ordinances, according to researchers from the University of Utah and University of New Mexico. In “The Power of Community Action: Anti-Payday Loan Ordinances in Three […]

Paul Bland in Money: Potential CFPB Head is a “Complete Hack for the Industry”

Here.  Excerpt: Trump is expected to almost immediately dismiss Richard Cordray, who has been the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) since its creation in 2011. * * * "Consumer protection is important to a well-functioning financial marketplace," Neugebauer wrote in one of his arguments for a new CFPB structure. But "this protection […]

Adam Levitin: Calls to Fire Cordray are About Shilling for the Financial Industry and to Block Arbitration, Payday Lending Regs

by Jeff Sovern In a characteristically terrific post at Credit Slips, Georgetown's Adam Levitin explains the real reasons for calls to fire CFPB Director Cordray.  A worthy companion to Adam's recent op-ed at American Banker (free content), What the CFPB 'Commission' Debate Is Really About.   Both worth a read. 

Does Trump’s Victory Mean John Dugan Will Return as a Regulator?

by Jeff Sovern John Dugan, a former bank lobbyist, was the Comptroller of the Currency during the George W. Bush Administration.  The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was then seen by some as an aggressive protector of banks. Among the reasons: the OCC took the position that state anti-predatory lending laws were preempted by […]

Will the CFPB Issue the Arbitration Rule Soon?

That's one of the questions addressed by the Wall Street Journal in an article headlined Financial Regulators Scramble to Complete Postcrisis Rules. (behind paywall). Excerpt: “This type of ’midnight rulemaking’ is neither conducive to sound policy nor consistent with principles of democratic accountability,” Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told […]

Paul Bland: The Swamp on Steroids: Trump’s Plan to Repeal Dodd-Frank Will Enable Corruption

Here.  The whole piece is worth reading, but here's an excerpt: Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign was filled with a lot of bold talk about “draining the swamp” and fighting against lobbyists. He attacked Hillary Clinton for her supposed cozy relationship with banks, and talked about how he’d stand up to Wall Street on behalf of the […]

Kathleen Engel Article: Local Governments and Risky Home Loans

Just in time for the Supreme Court's oral argument on Tuesday in Wells Fargo v. Miami, Suffolk's Kathleen Engel, an important thinker on consumer law, has written Local Governments and Risky Home Loans, 69 Southern Methodist University Law Review 609.  Here is the abstract: Municipalities from the Central Valley in California to Upstate New York bear the […]

Payday Lending is a Public Health Concern and Other Payday Lending News

by Jeff Sovern So says a study from the Glassgow Centre for Population Health, Public Health Implications of Payday Lending. The study's "key messages:" • Payday lending is a contemporary public health concern: the vulnerability of the populations involved, the urgency, scale and growth of the issue coupled with the corrosive nature of personal debt and financial […]