The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was widely expected to centralize regulation of payday and other high-cost loans in Washington. It hasn’t worked out that way.
Fair Financial, a digital banking platform developed by a Twin Cities nonprofit in partnership with a local bank, launched a pilot program this week. By 2020, it plans to serve 5,000 customers across the country.
Just two months ago, Comptroller Joseph Otting seemed to signal that the OCC might be open to letting national banks rent their charters to payday lenders. Now he is clarifying that it won’t happen.