Letters to the Editor - CFPB should keep common-sense lending rule

Editor,

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting Director Mick Mulvaney and deputy director Brian Johnson are at it again. When Mulvaney was in Congress he represented one of the largest payday lenders in the country and took in $62,000 in campaign contributions from them. It makes sense that as acting director he would see to their best interests and not those of the consumers the agency was created to protect.

In 2017, the consumer bureau issued a rule to protect Americans from predatory payday loans by requiring lenders to make sure borrowers have the ability to repay the loan, taking into account living expenses.

This rule as written would result in fewer families falling into financial ruin. Unfortunately, the bureau announced plans to “reconsider” the “ability-to-repay provisions” of the rule. The rule offers vital protections for payday, car title, and some longer term loan borrowers to keep them out of debt traps. The basis of the rule is common sense, and the consumer bureau should keep it that way.

Genoa Carver

Billings