Usury

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According to an NPR report published last week, a group of lawmakers consisting of three Democratic Senators, one Democratic House member, and one Republican House member is expected to introduce House and Senate versions of the “Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit Act,” a bill that would effectively establish a 36% rate cap for consumer loans. …

Last week, California Governor Newsom signed into law AB 539, which makes significant amendments to the California Financing Law (CFL), and SB 616, which creates a new exemption from levy for deposit account funds.

The Governor signed AB 539 on October 10.  Most importantly, the CFL amendments limit the rate of interest that…

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…

The CFPB and the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs have filed a lawsuit in federal district court in South Carolina against two companies and their individual owner that alleges the defendants violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act and the South Carolina Consumer Protection Code (SCCPC) by brokering high-interest loans to consumers that were marketed…

The Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee have sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting urging the OCC to make action to address the uncertainty created by Second Circuit’s Madden decision “a priority on the OCC’s rulemaking agenda.” 

In Madden, the Second Circuit ruled that a purchaser of charged-off…

I don’t understand why Professor Levitin is attacking the OCC and FDIC for filing an amicus brief in an “obscure small business bankruptcy case to which a bank was not even a party.”  The brief was an exceptional piece of drafting and analysis and the banking agencies do not deserve to be denigrated for a…

The OCC and FDIC have filed a joint amicus brief in a Colorado federal district court arguing that the court should affirm the decision of a bankruptcy court holding that a non-bank loan assignee could charge the same interest rate the bank assignor could charge under Section 27(a) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, 12…

There was movement last week on two California bills that we have been tracking closely and which could substantially alter the lending and brokering landscape under the California Financing Law (“CFL”).

On July 9th, AB-539, which proposes to cap interest rates at 36% plus the federal funds rate on CFL loans of $2,500 to…

AB 539 was cleared by the California Senate’s Banking Committee on June 26.  The bill would change several aspects of the California Financing Law (CFL), including by setting new interest rate caps, imposing new rules governing loan duration, and prohibiting prepayment penalties.  For example, while the CFL does not set a maximum interest rate on…

The California Senate’s Banking and Financial Institutions Committee will hold a hearing on AB 539 on June 26, 2019.  The hearing was previously scheduled for today.

AB 539 was cleared by the California Assembly on May 23.  The bill would change several aspects of the California Financing Law (CFL), including by setting new interest…