For Immediate Release:
July 30, 2026
Contact:
Robert Mayo
hello@woodstockinst.org
Federal approval would undermine Illinois’s ability to protect residents from harmful financial practices
CHICAGO – Illinois consumer advocates are opposing Opportunity Financial’s (“OppFi”) application for a bank charter, citing the Chicago-based lender’s extensive history of evading state rate cap laws to make loans in excess of 100% APR.
Federal regulators are currently reviewing OppFi’s proposed acquisition of BNCCORP and BNC National Bank. If approved, the resulting new national bank will be able to offer high-cost lending products in states where it had previously been unable to do so legally.
In two letters written to federal regulators by the Chicago-based Woodstock Institute, advocates outlined several concerns with OppFi’s business practices. Joined by fellow Illinois advocates Capital Good Fund, Citizen Action/Illinois, Illinois People’s Action, Jewish Free Loan Chicago, and Legal Action Chicago, one letter focused especially on the lender’s flouting of Illinois’s 36% APR consumer loan rate cap established by the 2021 Predatory Loan Prevention Act (PLPA). Documentation shows OppFi made a 159.5% APR loan to an Illinois consumer in 2024 through its partnership with an out-of-state bank despite the PLPA’s explicit prohibition of this practice.
Woodstock also co-authored a letter with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Rise Economy highlighting systemic concerns, including:
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OppFi agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to compensate consumers in Washington, D.C who were charged 160% APR and to stop making loans in D.C. over the local rate cap.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s complaint database has received over 1,600 complaints in the past 3 years related to OppFi’s “…high interest rates and lack of affordability…loan churning and cycle of debt concerns…”
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OppFi’s double-digit charge-off rates for their consumer loans (55% in Q1 of 2026) are “virtually unheard of” in the banking world and raise serious questions about this acquisition’s potential impact on the financial stability of the US banking system.
“Approval of this acquisition would reward predatory business practices that seek to trap consumers in a cycle of debt,” said Jane Doyle, Director of Policy & Advocacy at Woodstock Institute. “Furthermore, OppFi’s business model of making high-cost consumer loans with high default rates is fundamentally at odds with the safe and sound practices required of a bank. The banking system should not be required to absorb or insure against such a risky business model.”
Advocates worry that OppFi’s application could accelerate a broader trend of high-cost lenders taking advantage of a lax regulatory environment under the Trump Administration to gain access to the US banking system. Another Chicago-based high-cost lender, Enova International, is also seeking federal approval for a bank charter and faces similar controversy. Fifteen states’ attorneys general, including Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, recently wrote to federal regulators opposing both OppFi and Enova’s applications.
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Woodstock Institute is a leading policy and research nonprofit that advocates for consumer financial protection and community economic development. Our work seeks to combat structural inequities and improve the quality of life in lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Among our areas of focus are predatory lending, access to banking, debt collection, and municipal fines and fees.
