Payday lending

The prospect of banks and credit unions meeting small-dollar loan demand is at risk under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's restrictive proposal.

Consumer advocates are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to strengthen its proposal to rein in payday lending, arguing it would still allow borrowers to be abused.

Lenders are questioning the legal justification for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's putting a 36% annual percentage rate threshold in its payday proposal, claiming loans made at that rate are unprofitable. That figure has been the subject of intense debate in the past decade.

Fintech firms and banks should collaborate on using alternative data sources to qualify more borrowers for small-dollar loans.

We need a variety of small-dollar credit products to meet a variety of consumer needs. So the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed payday plan must provide more flexibility.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit Monday against payment processer Intercept Corp. and its two top executives for allegedly enabling clients to withdraw millions of dollars' worth of illegal charges from consumer bank accounts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complex payday lending proposal is sparking concerns that state legislatures will try to repeal existing usury laws and allow a parade of pro-payday-lending bills to move forward.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal could have included flexibility for banks to offer payday loan alternatives, but the plan misses the mark.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's long-awaited proposal to establish the first federal rules for payday, auto title and high-cost installment loans did not include a provision that banks had planned would allow them to compete by offering small-dollar installment loans.

We need to adopt a more nuanced view of credit that considers not only the cost of credit, but also the cost of default and the cost of having no credit.