Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting issued a statement today in support of the CFPB’s proposal that would rescind in their entirety the ability-to-repay (ATR) provisions in its final payday/auto title/high-rate installment loan rule.  (The CFPB has also proposed to delay the mandatory compliance date for the ATR provisions until November 19, 2020 but took no action to change the rule’s payment provisions or the August 19, 2019 compliance date for the payment provisions.) In…

The CFPB has issued highly-anticipated proposed revisions to its final payday/auto title/high-rate installment loan rule (Rule) that would rescind the Rule’s ability-to-repay provisions in their entirety (which the CFPB refers to as the “Mandatory Underwriting Provisions”).  The Bureau will take comments on the proposal for 90 days after its publication in the Federal Register.  In a separate proposal, the CFPB has proposed a 15-month delay in the Rule’s August 19, 2019 compliance date to…

The FDIC has published a request for information (RFI) on small-dollar lending, including “steps the FDIC could take to encourage FDIC-supervised institutions to offer responsible, prudently underwritten small-dollar credit products that are economically viable and address the credit needs of bank customers.”  (The FDIC supervises state-chartered banks and savings institutions that are not Federal Reserve members.)  Comments must be received by January 22, 2019. In May 2018, the OCC issued a bulletin intended to encourage…

Yesterday, the court reversed course in the lawsuit filed by two industry trade groups challenging the CFPB’s final payday/auto title/high-rate installment loan rule (Payday Rule).  On its own initiative, the Texas federal district court granted a stay of the Payday Rule’s August 19, 2019 compliance date and continued in force its stay of the lawsuit.  Unfortunately, the court did not specify a termination date for the stay of the compliance date, as the trade groups…

Earlier today, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection released a Public Statement Regarding Payday Rule Reconsideration and Delay of Compliance Date. Echoing rumors that have been circulating in the industry for several weeks (which we had agreed not to address in our blog), the Statement reads in full as follows: The Bureau expects to issue proposed rules in January 2019 that will reconsider the Bureau’s rule regarding Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment…

Resolving an ambiguity in the California Finance Lender’s Law (CFLL), the California Supreme Court unanimously held that borrowers may use the unconscionability doctrine to challenge the interest rate on consumer loans of $2,500 or more, despite the fact that the CFLL has deregulated interest rates on such loans.  Although unconscionability claims of this nature will be difficult to prosecute, the decision creates heightened risk for nonbank consumer lenders doing business in California, particularly when lending…