A New York federal district court in Petersen v. Chase Card Funding, LLC held that the National Bank Act (NBA) preempted the plaintiff’s claims that the interest charged on his credit card account violated New York usury law.

The named plaintiff was the holder of a credit card issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.… Continue Reading

The Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit Act, which has been introduced in the House (H.R. 5050) and Senate (S. 2833), would impose a 36% national usury limit on most forms of consumer credit.  Bill Himpler responds to claims that the rate limit will not reduce credit access for creditworthy consumers and discusses relevant studies, the bill’s status and political prospects, AFSA’s efforts to educate lawmakers and their staff about consumer finance, and other current federal and state issues of concern to industry members. … Continue Reading

On January 31, 2020, by a vote of 65 to 33, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would establish a 36% rate cap on certain consumer loans.  Since Democrats also hold a majority in the Virginia Senate, the Senate is expected to also pass the bill.

The bill amends Virginia’s general usury law and Consumer Finance Act and includes the following key provisions:

  • References to “payday loans” are changed to refer to “short-term loans” with the maximum amount of such loans increased from $500 to $2,500. 
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The Act, which has been introduced in the House (H.R. 5050) and Senate (S. 2833), would impose a 36% national usury limit on most forms of consumer credit.  We are joined by the bill’s drafter, Professor Chris Peterson of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, for a discussion of the rationale for the cap, its potential impact on credit access, the implementation process if enacted, and the bill’s status and political prospects.… Continue Reading

The CFPB announced that it has entered into a proposed consent order with Think Finance and six subsidiaries (collectively, the “Think Entities’) to settle the Bureau’s lawsuit filed in November 2017 that alleged the Think Entities engaged in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices in connection with their collection of loans that were void under state law because the loans’ interest rates exceeded state law limits or the lenders who made the loans had not obtained required state licenses.  … Continue Reading

The OCC and FDIC issued proposed rules this week intended to eliminate the uncertainty created by the Second Circuit’s decision in Madden v. Midland Funding.  In that decision, the Second Circuit held that a nonbank that purchased charged-off loans from a national bank could not charge the same rate of interest on the loan that Section 85 of the National Bank Act (NBA) allowed the national bank to charge. … Continue Reading

A group of small businesses and their individual owners have filed a putative class action lawsuit in a New York federal district court against online lender Kabbage, Inc. that alleges Kabbage engaged in a “rent-a-charter” scheme to make loans at interest rates that were usurious under state law.

According to the complaint, Kabbage entered into the scheme with Celtic Bank, a foreign state-chartered bank in Utah, which has no maximum rate limit for commercial loans. … Continue Reading

Senator Bernie Sanders recently announced that he will be introducing a bill, the “Loan Shark Prevention Act,” that would amend the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1606) (TILA) to establish a “national consumer credit usury rate” that would limit the APR “applicable to any extension of credit” to the lesser of “15 percent on unpaid balances, inclusive of all finance charges” or “the maximum rate permitted by the laws of the State in which the consumer resides” (Sanders Bill). … Continue Reading

The parties in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC. have filed a joint motion with the New York federal district court seeking preliminary approval of a class settlement.

The plaintiffs’ class action complaint in Madden alleged that a debt buyer, which had purchased the plaintiffs’ charged-off credit card debt from a national bank, violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by falsely representing the amount of interest it was entitled to collect. … Continue Reading

On January 23, Delaware Governor John Carney signed the “Delaware Federal Employees Civil Relief Act” into law.  The Act states that its purpose “is to provide for the temporary suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings in Delaware that may adversely affect the civil rights of Federal workers during a shutdown.” … Continue Reading