SAN ANTONIO–A federal judge has rejected a request by Acting BCFP Director Mick Mulvaney to delay the effective date of the agency’s payday lending rule, which is set to go into effect in 2019.
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas wrote simply, “Requests presented by the parties' Joint Motion for Stay of Litigation and Stay of Agency Action Pending Review filed May 31, 2018 are denied.”
Mulvaney, along with several trade groups for the payday loan industry–the Community Financial Services Association of America and Consumer Service Alliance of Texas — had earlier filed suit seeking to overturn or restrict tougher rules on so-called small-dollar loans. Those rules had been written while the agency was led by Mulvaney’s predecessor, Richard Cordray, who is now the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio.
The payday lending rules are set to go into effect on Aug. 19, 2018, and require among other things that a lender determine a borrower's ability to repay any loan of 45 days or less.
Consumer groups expressed strong support for the judge’s ruling.