RICHMOND, Va. — Attorney General Mark Herring on Monday asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to take action to protect consumers from abuses in consumer lending.
Herring is working toward protecting consumers from payday lending, vehicle title lending, and other types of high-cost exploitative consumer lending.
According to the Attorney General, in 2017, about 96,000 Virginians took out more than 309,000 payday loans reaching nearly $123 million with an average APR of 254 percent.
“Under the Trump Administration, the CFPB has continuously pulled back or changed policies and regulations that protect borrowers from predatory lenders and delaying this new rule is just one more example,” said Attorney General Herring. “Unfortunately, many Virginians who have fallen on hard financial times turn to predatory lenders, unaware of the financial quicksand these small-dollar loans can be. I have pushed for stronger laws against predatory lenders in Virginia, but until we have those I will continue to do all I can to protect Virginians from their predatory practices.”
A new rule by the CFPB, which went into effect in 2018 but delayed until August 19, 2019, would help protect borrowers and make sure they have the ability to repay loans while also forbidding lenders from using abusive tactics when looking for repayment.
It has also been proposed to delay the protective rule until November 19, 2020. The CFPB is also reviewing another rule that would rescind this one.
Herring has joined a coalition of 25 states who sent a letter to the CFPB asking them to take action against the abusive consumer lending tactics. Attorney Generals from California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin also signed the letter.
Read the full letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau below:
