WASHINGTON–Time has run out for passage of a Congressional Review Act resolution that would roll back Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection restrictions on payday lenders.
As CUToday.info reported here, legislation had been introduced in the House that would repeal regulations recently announced by the BCFP for small-dollar, short-term loans, better known as payday loans.
In October 2017, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced its final rule on payday loans that includes a cap of 36% on such loans, far below what many payday lenders charge. The rule, some 1,690 pages long, was set to go into effect in 2019 and the agency said was designed to help “financially vulnerable consumers who often cannot afford to pay back the full balance when it is due.” The BCFP rules include a carve-out for credit unions.
But the 60 legislative-days window on using the Congressional Review Act to overturn the BCFP rules has now expired, after the Government Accountability Office said in December 2017 that the guidance qualified as a rule for repeal under the law.
The rollback had been widely criticized by consumer groups.
Republicans in Congress have successfully used the CRA to dial back other Bureau rules, most recently on indirect auto loans.