Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

Consumers are increasingly accessing small short-term loans through digital cash advance and Earned Wage Advance (EWA) online applications. Consumers can receive advance amounts up to $750 per pay period while using these apps. Some companies contract with employers to provide this product while others work directly with consumers. In the direct-to-consumer model, the advances are often marketed as “free,” but...

Millions of Americans continue to experience financial precarity, and this report illustrates how payday and car-title lending extract financial resources from communities across the United States.

Payday lenders charge exorbitant fees to borrowers without assessing their ability to repay, and the annual interest rates on these loans are in the triple digits.

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) expressed support for the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s (DFPI) proposal to clarify that fintech cash advances are covered by the California Financing Law (CFL), including its fee and interest rate limits. The proposal requires that lenders be licensed under the CFL, with a temporary licensing...

The undersigned organizations commend the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) for moving to regulate abusive fintech lenders, including earned wage advance providers. We are very pleased to support the proposed rules and encourage the DFPI to vigorously enforce them to ensure that California’s most vulnerable consumers are not harmed. Signatories California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) CA Labor Federation...

Opportunity Financial, also known as OppFi, is a consumer lending company based in Chicago, Illinois that offers personal installment loans. Their marketing suggests they are providing an essential service to the credit and income constrained; their products, however, carry triple-digit Annual Percentage Rates (APRs). Public filings reveal a business model built around high levels of delinquency and default. According to...

Opportunity Financial, also known as OppFi, is a consumer lending company based in Chicago, Illinois that offers personal installment loans. Although OppFi’s stated mission is to “empower everyday consumers to rebuild their financial health,” OppFi is a legacy subprime lender. The company uses a rent-a-bank scheme to evade consumer protections and charge customers triple-digit interest rates on its personal installment...

Accountable.US, Americans for Financial Reform, Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low- income clients), National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Public Citizen, US PIRG and the Woodstock Institute submitted comments for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examination of First Electronic Bank. First Electronic Bank helps at least two nonbank lenders...

From the comment: Accountable.US, Americans for Financial Reform, Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its lowincome clients), National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Public Citizen, US PIRG and the Woodstock Institute submit these comments in connection with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examination of FinWise Bank. FinWise Bank helps several nonbank...

CRL policy counsel Monica Burks recommends Vermont lawmakers decline to codify an Earned Wage Advance business model that could risk enabling payday lending-like debt traps in a state with an 18% usury cap.