Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

New CRL research confirms that over the past decade, a Florida law that was enacted to protect Florida consumers from the predatory harms of payday lending has done the exact opposite. Instead, since 2005 payday loan borrowers in the Sunshine State have spent over $2.5 billion in payday loan fees. Further, Florida's senior citizens and consumers of color are the...

View a letter from North Carolina organizations to Director Richard Cordray of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau calling for a strong payday rule. North Carolina has a unique story to tell about payday lending. North Carolina was the first state to: Roll back a once legal payday industry Litigate the rent-a-bank model Force a bank to drop its bank payday...

Public Opinion Strategies conducted a survey of 500 likely voters in Michigan. The survey was conducted December 17-20, 2015 and has a margin of error of +4.3.8% in 95 out of 100 cases. Three hundred (300) interviews were conducted with landline respondents and 200 interviews were conducted with cell phone respondents. Key findings included: There is clear opposition to payday...

More than 250 civil rights, consumer, labor, faith, veterans, seniors, and community organizations, strongly oppose H.R. 4018, the "Consumer Protection and Choice Act." This harmful bill would limit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) ability to protect all consumers against high-cost payday, car title, and installment loans. In addition to delaying the Bureau's rule-making for two years or longer, H.R...

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...

On March 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offered a first look at proposals under consideration to curb the payday loan debt trap. The consumer agency released information outlining their deliberations at a field hearing in Richmond, VA – at which the agency also heard from a panel of consumer and civil rights advocates, as well as payday industry representatives...

American consumers need strong protections from unfair, deceptive or abusive practices in the payday and small-dollar lending markets. CRL joined Americans for Financial Reform and more than 100 other organizations to urge Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to pass a broad rule, warning that an overly narrow rule could result in an even deeper debt trap.

Joint research from CRL and the Consumer Federation of America finds that car-title loans—small-dollar loans secured by the title to a vehicle owned outright—cost U.S. consumers $3.6 billion a year in interest on $1.6 billion in loans. Read the Full Report Read the Executive Summary These products share many of payday loans' predatory features: triple-digit interest rates, balloon payments at...

Some 250 advocates urged four federal regulators to end the predatory practice of bank payday lending on February 22, 2012. The CFPB, OCC, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board can and should stop Wells Fargo, US Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Regions Bank from trapping their customers in long-term debt at 400% annual interest. The Honorable Ben S. Bernanke Chairman Board...

Consumer groups fear OCC proposed guidance may legitimize and facilitate the spread of payday lending by national banks, and banks would continue abusive overdraft practices—harming bank customers, undermining state payday loan laws, and weakening the long-term safety and soundness of financial institutions.