In a recent interview, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, announced the OCC’s plan to “clarify” its support of bank-offered deposit advance products. “Deposit advance products” are typically defined as small-dollar, short-term loans or lines of credit that are to be repaid from the proceeds of the consumer’s next direct deposit.  The WSJ reports that the OCC’s planned announcement will focus on 45-to-90 day loans.
Continue Reading Pay Day Lending: Here Come the Banks!

payday loan pen and paperOn October 5, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) released its nearly 1,700-page final rule for short-term loans (“Payday Lending Rule”). Notably, almost simultaneously with the CFPB’s announced Payday Lending Rule, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) rescinded its longstanding Guidance on Supervisory Concerns and Expectations Regarding Deposit Advance Products (“DAP Guidance”), theoretically opening the door for banks to offer short-term credit products to customers with less regulatory burden.

When will the Payday Lending Rule become effective?

While certain provisions of the Payday Lending Rule relating to the registration of information systems will become effective 60 days after the Payday Lending Rule is published in the Federal Register, the rest of the Payday Lending Rule will become effective 21 months after publication in the Federal Register. Consequently, the Payday Lending Rule will not become effective until sometime during the summer of 2019. Given that the term of the current CFPB Director expires in mid-2018, and will presumably be replaced by a director less hostile to the payday loan industry, some industry commentators speculate that the Payday Lending Rule, at least in its present form, may never become effective.
Continue Reading The CFPB’s Payday Lending Rule: An Opportunity in Disguise?