Small-dollar lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it was invoking a special authority to supervise entities that pose risks to consumers in taking on World Acceptance Corp.

The state of Connecticut recently handed the small-dollar marketplace loan provider a cease-and-desist order, but Rodney Williams says his company is getting much-needed emergency funds into marginalized communities at a low total cost, and that the rules need to be rewritten.

OneUnited's new installment-loan product is meant to break customers out of a cycle of debt. It will compete with similar offerings from heavyweights like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Huntington.

Banks could be a better option than payday lenders to meet consumers’ short-term credit needs. But all the OCC’s regulation does is enable partnerships that circumvent state usury laws.

There are ways to remove bad actors from the industry — such as reinstating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s payday lending rule and banning certain fees and collection practices — without hindering consumers’ access to emergency credit.

There are ways to remove bad actors from the industry — such as reinstating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s payday lending rule and banning certain fees and collection practices — without hindering consumers’ access to emergency credit.

The agency's "no-action" letter is intended to provide more regulatory certainty for the bank after it announced a short-term credit product available to checking account customers next year.

Bank of America plans to offer some of its customers access to short-term loans, the latest blow to the payday lending industry.

Regulators are urging banks to offer small-dollar loans again and lifting existing restrictions on nonbank lenders. But the real challenge is making those loans favorable to consumers without losing money.

Many of its borrowers have struggled to make payments since the pandemic struck, so it is helping them by suspending debt collections and capping rates on new loans at 36%.