The Fed, FDIC, and OCC have issued a “Statement on Reference Rates for Loans” that addresses replacement rates for the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR).  LIBOR, which many creditors currently use as the index for calculating the interest rate on credit cards and other variable-rate consumer credit products, is expected to be discontinued sometime after 2021.… Continue Reading

On March 6, the Student Borrower Protection Center, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the National Consumer Law Center sent a letter to the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) urging the ARRC “to consider the unique risks inherent to the private student loan market and to prioritize the protection of student loan borrowers” in connection with the change from LIBOR to the new Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) index.… Continue Reading

Creditors currently using the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as the index for variable-rate consumer loans should note that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is now publishing a new index named the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).

SOFR is intended to take the place of LIBOR when LIBOR is discontinued (as the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority has indicated will occur at the end of 2021).… Continue Reading