Public input is tremendously important to our work at the CFPB. At our January field hearing in Birmingham, we had the opportunity to gather information directly from Alabamans about their experiences with payday loans.
Your official comments will help inform how the CFPB works to protect consumers and create a fairer short-term credit marketplace. And to make it easier, you can do it online! Click here to tell the CFPB why a payday advance is an important financial option for you.
You can also watch CFPB Director Cordray’s opening remarks from Birmingham below, or read the transcript of the entire event, including what the Bureau heard from the public.
“So another key objective is making sure that both banks and their nonbank competitors receive the evenhanded oversight necessary to promote a fair and open marketplace. Our supervisors will be going on-site to examine their books, ask tough questions, and fix the problems we uncover. Under the laws enacted by Congress, and with a director now in place, we have the ability to make sure this is true across all financial products and services.”
Need not worry, you can watch the recap of CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s remarks by clicking here.
If you missed the first event, CFPB Director Rich Cordray talked about CFPB’s inquiry into overdraft practices. Here are some of the things the Bureau is working on when it comes to overdraft protection. EXCERPT BELOW IS TAKEN FROM THE CFPB’S WEBSITE:
We’re researching how overdrafts affect you. We launched an inquiry through a data request that is being sent to a number of banks and a Notice and Request for Information to gain insight into overdraft practices.
We want you to understand what actions you can take now to protect yourself from overdraft fees. Do you know your overdraft status? Read our Consumer Advisory that explains how you can learn whether or not you have opted in to debit overdraft fees on ATM and point-of-sale transactions. Go to our Twitter and Facebook accounts to tell us your debit overdraft status.
We’re working to make it easier for you to understand the costs and risks of overdraft programs. Our model overdraft “penalty fee box” is a thought-starter for a disclosure that would appear on your checking account statement and online banking landing page. It would highlight the amount overdrawn and total overdraft fees charged, so you so can clearly see how much overdrafts are costing you. Tell us what you think.
The CFPB is at the campus of Hunter College in New York City, where Richard Cordray, Raj Date, industry insiders, and consumer advocates are discussing customer experiences with checking accounts and overdraft protection.
You can either watch it by going to the CFPB’s website, by clicking here. Or watch it below:
CFSA released the following statement today regarding the Bureau’s field hearing yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama. The following comments can be attributed to D. Lynn DeVault, CFSA’s Board Chair:
“We appreciate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) willingness to hear from all stakeholders as it develops plans to regulate the small loan market. Storefront lenders made 110 million loans to nearly 20 million American families last year. At a time when access to small dollar loans is more vital than ever, developing strong, uniform, research-based rules will be a benefit to consumers.
“State governments currently regulate all aspects of payday advance lending in every state where payday advance loans are available. We have long worked with our state regulators in all 32 states where we operate to ensure compliance with state licensing and renewal requirements, supervision and examination procedures, and other consumer protection laws and regulations. Our member companies are committed to following all state and federal laws, as well as adhering to our association’s strict set of Best Practices that include truthful advertising, appropriate collection practices, and providing an Extended Payment Plan to customers who are unable to repay their payday advance loan.
“The Bureau’s new Short-Term, Small-Dollar Lending Examination Procedures is now published and our members look forward to working with our new federal regulator to confirm their compliance with all federal consumer financial laws and regulations.”
Quote of the day (from yesterday’s hearing) came from none other than Ted Saunders, member of CFSA’s Board of Directors and also CEO of Community Choice Financial:
“My customer is not uninformed, my customer is not unintelligent and I respectfully disagree that closing me down and letting alternatives flourish would be a good solution”
CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s remarks from yesterday’s field hearing have now been posted onto the #CFPB website. Click here to access the transcript.
A few highlights:
“… Let me stress again that this is a field hearing. We came here to listen, to learn, and to gather information on the ground that will help inform our approach to these issues. We are thinking hard about these issues, and we do not have all the answers worked out by any means.”
“Whatever their reasons may be for taking out a payday loan, Americans are now borrowing billions of dollars this way. Lenders collect over $7 billion in fees annually.”
“… And so I want to be clear about one thing: We recognize the need for emergency credit. At the same time, it is important that these products actually help consumers, rather than harm them.”
“In addition to the things we need to learn more about, we know there are some payday lenders engaged in practices that present immediate risk to consumers and are clearly illegal. While we need to learn more about the prevalence of this conduct and what allows it to fester, where we find these practices we will take immediate steps to eliminate them.”
Ask, and you shall receive. With so many satisfied payday lending customers and employees asking for a forum to provide comments, the Bureau put up a comment section where you can now go to make comments and “Tell Your Story”.
The CFPB wants you to tell them your story: good or bad, about your experience with a payday advance. Your story will help inform how the CFPB works to protect consumers and create a fairer marketplace. By filling out their comments section or even telling your story via their contact form, you are opting in to tell the Bureau why a payday advance is an important financial option for you!
