Bill Law

Dear Coalition Supporters, This update covers important predatory lending developments over the past few months, including action at the NC General Assembly, challenge of the payday rule in Congress (spoiler, we won!), threats to our state usury cap, rollback of federal student loan protections, and recent CRL research. NC General Assembly: What Happened? House Bill 810, backed by the NC-based BB&T, would have tripled the origination fee on consumer loans issued by NC-chartered banks to $150, and could have more than tripled the late fee by increasing the fee to $35. Most worrisome was the...

Dear Coalition supporters, At a time when victories are hard to come by, please take a minute to celebrate a big win! We stopped Congress from rolling back the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s national payday rule. Last week, the clock ran out on efforts to use the fast-track Congressional Review Act to repeal the rule and prevent the bureau from regulating payday and car title lenders in the future. They didn’t have the votes they needed to pass H.J. Resolution 122, the payday CRA. With strong opposition from so many fronts, members of Congress realized that the price was too high to...

Our top priorities for the 2017 NC General Assembly session were to keep payday and car title lenders out of North Carolina, to defend our strong debt buyer and debt collection protections and our strong mortgage lending protections, and to look for opportunities to strengthen other lending protections while guarding against any proposals to weaken them. This 2017 session of the NC General Assembly was dominated by attempts to weaken Gubernatorial powers, address fallout from the “bathroom bill”, and redraw state district maps under court order. But legislators still found time to help...

Dear Coalition Supporters, Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its final rule to rein in arbitration abuses and improve access to the judicial system for all consumers. This week, US House and Senate members have introduced Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolutions to overturn this CFPB rule. We expect the US House to vote on its CRA resolution as early as Tuesday. On the Senate side, our NC Senator Thom Tillis is one of the leaders in the attempt to overturn this rule: “Setting aside the looming questions surrounding the constitutionality, this CFPB rule is a...

Dear Coalition Supporters, This update discusses serious threats from the federal level to our NC protections against predatory lending as well as several positive actions in NC and nationally. It includes recent developments about payday lending, student lending, housing finance reform and the new arbitration ban. And it discusses the threat of Congress dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), our main watchdog on Wall Street, including the impact on the military. For up to date developments, follow me and CRL on Twitter and "like" CRL on Facebook. Also, over the next few...

The 2015 NC General Assembly adjourned yesterday, months after we first expected them to wrap-up their session. They will reconvene for the short session on April 25, 2016. Because of your calls and letters, three very dangerous bills did not pass: Senate Bill 681, which would have legalized 80 to 125% loans, never even got a committee hearing, House Bill 541 and Senate Bill 511, which would have rolled back protections against common debt buyer abuses, did not get a vote on the floor of either Chamber, and Senate Bill 491 would have eliminated protections against common abuses by manufactured...

The 2015 NC General Assembly adjourned yesterday, months after we first expected them to wrap-up their session. They will reconvene for the short session on April 25, 2016. Because of your calls and letters, three very dangerous bills did not pass: Senate Bill 681, which would have legalized 80 to 125% loans, never even got a committee hearing, House Bill 541 and Senate Bill 511, which would have rolled back protections against common debt buyer abuses, did not get a vote on the floor of either Chamber, and Senate Bill 491 would have eliminated protections against common abuses by manufactured...

SB 1400 requires that foreclosures must proceed through the judicial foreclosure process (rather than power of sale) when the homeowner is on active military duty and the mortgage was entered into prior to active duty service. The bill is meant to complement the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). SCRA already required that a hearing be held before a judge to decide whether a stay in foreclosure proceedings is warranted under SCRA. However, since the power of sale process takes place with the clerk of court and not a judge, there was some concern that the foreclosure process in North...

Full Session Law This legislation, effective October 1, 2010, provides basic protections for North Carolinians against foreclosure "rescue" scams, and abuses related to option-to-purchase and contract-for-deed contracts. Violations of this law constitute an unfair trade practice and the injured party may sue to recover damages, obtain declaratory or equitable relief, or rescind the transaction, in addition to any other remedy provided by law. This legislation, effective October 1, 2010, provides basic protections for North Carolinians against foreclosure "rescue" scams, and abuses related to...

Full Session Law This legislation has two major components: (1) it extends the reach of the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project, and (2) it modifies the points and fees trigger for determining that a mortgage is high-cost. Extending the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project (SHFPP) Since 2008, the SHFPP has helped over 4,200 homeowners with subprime loans avoid foreclosure in North Carolina, and has allowed more than 10,000 others to meet housing counselors for free advice and assistance. Beginning November, 1, 2010, this legislation extends the program to cover all home loans whose...