Consumer lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ended the first “no action letter” agreement with a fintech that had provided immunity from regulatory actions.

Some of the riskiest loans given to millennials and Gen Z shoppers for clothes and electronics — and neatly repackaged for investors — are dropping in value.

U.S. consumer borrowing surged again in April, following a record jump a month earlier, fueled by rising prices and the continued strength of American consumers. 

The legislation blocked by John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, would have allowed consumer loans of up to $1,500 with triple-digit interest rates. Edwards wrote that the measure does not protect the public from “predatory lending practices.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau first completed its rules for payday lenders in 2017, but industry litigation has successfully kept the rule from being enforced.

A majority of borrowers who together hold about $400 billion in federal student debt made no payment on their loans in the pandemic era, taking full advantage of a freeze put in place at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.

A recent California Supreme Court decision means that lenders can be on the hook for consumers’ attorney fees in situations where car dealers defraud them. The case involved TD Auto Finance and a dealer that allegedly sold a vehicle without certain advertised features.

The system may be good for the banks that own it, but it is not meeting its public mission.

The nation’s six largest credit card companies are facing questions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over their alleged failure to report customer payment data on a regular basis. The agency says that the industry’s practices can hurt consumers’ ability to qualify for cheaper loans.

Companies that use artificial intelligence or machine learning in their loan decisions are legally required to provide a specific explanation when applications get denied, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a policy statement.