NEW PAYDAY LOAN PROTECTIONS UNDER ATTACK IN CONGRESS

Another Shot Fired in the Ongoing Assault against the Consumer Bureau

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1, 2017

CHICAGO, IL— An industry-backed group of U.S. House members moved to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule on payday and title lending today. If allowed to take effect, the rule would establish historic, strong nationwide protections to protect borrowers from falling prey to the payday lending debt trap.

“Predatory lending traps working folks in an endless cycle of debt. This attempt to repeal the Consumer Bureau’s payday and title rule is an assault against the country’s most vulnerable people,” said Woodstock Institute President Dory Rand. “The Consumer Bureau’s rule makes sense; it requires lenders to determine that borrowers can actually repay the loan in full and on time. We will fight to defend this common sense protection.”

A payday loan in Illinois comes with an average 323 annual percentage rate. Research indicates four of every five loans are re-borrowed within the month because most borrowers—like those in Illinois who make an average of less than $30,000 a year—cannot afford to repay loans at such usurious rates.

This move happens in the wake of the illegal power grab at the helm of the Consumer Bureau by Mick Mulvaney, a Trump appointee who is hostile to the consumer protection mission of the Bureau.

Read the CFPB press release and factsheet summarizing the rule on payday loans, or read the full CFPB rule on payday loans. Read Woodstock’s Illinois-specific fact sheet.