News Topic: Small-dollar lending

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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. ... Read full article

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. ... Read full article

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

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. ... Read full article

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%. ... Read full article

Trump-appointed regulators gave the industry the green light to offer installment loans during the pandemic. But with concerns that the light could turn red in 2021, bankers remain extra cautious. ... Read full article

Consumers now have more control over their own financial decisions and loan options. ... Read full article

An interagency notice meant to encourage lenders to offer small consumer loans also provides federal agencies too much say on what constitutes “reasonable” pricing. ... Read full article

The templates are meant to make it easier to obtain agency approval for small-dollar loan products and to accommodate mortgage servicers that want to provide online loss mitigation options. ... Read full article

The comptroller of the currency, expected to step down Thursday after two and a half years on the job, ruffled feathers and won some fans in pushing through CRA reform, cutting costs and trying to reshape the agency’s examiner culture. ... Read full article

Four federal agencies offered guidance Wednesday on how to offer products that compete against payday loans without incurring Washington's wrath. The announcement could spark the rebirth of deposit advances, which were regulated out of existence ... Read full article

Some bankers, economists, policy experts and even Mark Cuban say that creative uses of overdraft programs could be lifelines for consumers and businesses whose finances have been upended by the coronavirus crisis. ... Read full article

The $5.9 billion-asset Liberty Bank in Middletown had set aside $5 million to make small-dollar loans to customers affected by the coronavirus pandemic. ... Read full article

Regulators point to traditional financial institutions as well-positioned to meet short-term credit needs during the coronavirus pandemic, but there are still a host of questions about whether the industry should try to compete with high-cost lenders. ... Read full article

Citigroup CEO says it’s a “fine line” between supporting customers and burdening them with debt; Goldman gives away 600,000 N95 masks it had from prior scares. ... Read full article

The joint statement said examiners will not impede banks’ responsible efforts to offer open lines of credit, closed-installment loans or other products to borrowers dealing with fallout from the pandemic. ... Read full article

Banks typically don't offer loans to cash-strapped consumers, and are poorly positioned to start doing so on an emergency basis — unless the government steps in to help. ... Read full article