LOS ANGELES — California’s attorney general joined a coalition of two-dozen other state attorneys general in opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to delay a consumer protection rule for payday lenders.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month proposed repealing a 2017 “ability-to-pay” requirement. The Obama administration proposed the rule as a way to end predatory lending against low-income Americans.
“The Trump political appointees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have forgotten the essential mission of their agency — to protect consumers,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “The CFPB’s proposed rule change would allow payday lenders to target and take advantage of our nation’s most vulnerable borrowers rather than issue loans based on a person’s ability to pay.”
Becerra, a Democrat, submitted a letter with the coalition opposing the administration’s proposal to delay the rule, which had been scheduled to go into effect in August. The letter was sent to CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger, CNBC reported.
In the letter, the state attorneys general criticized the Trump administration’s delay in implementing the rule and alternative proposals that would rescind the provision. Among the other state attorneys general signing the letter were Letitia James of New York and Gurbir Grewal of New Jersey, CNBC reported.