'People Make Choices': Comments of the Week
March 24, 2016 3:00 PM
American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.
On why the government should be cautious when regulating payday lenders:
"People make choices. It's that simple. This whole unbanked thing is being way overthought with way too much time spent on it."
Related article:CFPB Should Tread Cautiously on Payday Loans
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In response to an article on the holes in security:
"It's past time to make everyone's 'credentials' something other than a user name and password, which in turn are 'secured' by answering questions about where we have lived, how much our mortgage payment is or the name of our first grade teacher (all of which are thus the targets of fraudsters/phishers)."
Related article:Visa, Fed Execs Shine a Light into Data Security's Weakest 'Seams'
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On requiring payday lenders to do better underwriting, among possible new CFPB requirements:
"An 'ability to repay' standard seems reasonable. It would help to prevent borrowers from getting into an endless and expensive cycle of debt, while preserving access to short-term emergency credit."
Related article:CFPB Faces No-Win Scenario on Payday Lending
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On what consumers are willing to pay banks for faster payments:
"For most retail payments, real time is here. It's called PayPal. What else do we need?"
Related article:What Are Real-Time Payments Worth?
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On the potential effects of tough CFPB regulations on payday lenders, including that some may have to close:
"If poor people have no place to borrow money at exorbitant rates, that's a good thing. Maybe they can go back to borrowing from family, friends, and churches, where they will be told to reduce their spending."
Related article:CFPB Faces No-Win Scenario on Payday Lending
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A retort to the view that some people choose to be unbanked:
"I suppose you also believe that being homeless reflects peoples' 'choice' to sleep on the street. In addition to affordable housing, low-income people need access to convenient, basic banking services. Now they 'choose' to pay obscene usurious interest and fees at payday lenders and check cashing stores, which should both be illegal."
Related article:Postal Banking Didn't Work in 1910 and It Won't Now
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On the consequences of there being more and more regulatory compliance:
"The web of regulations has become not only overwhelming for bankers to manage, but the same is true for the regulators, who have to make sure that every bank is managing it all correctly. There is a common interest for regulated and regulators to have a better focus on what really matters. Until we get there, serious implementation risks will persist for supervised and supervisor alike."
Related article:Fewer Community Banks = More Risk in System
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