This article was posted by KDKA 2 CBS Pittsburgh. Click here to read the original article.  Retirement savings makes it even harder to put away money for emergencies. By Jon Delano January 25, 2022 at 7:29 pm PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Most Americans do not have the cash on hand to cover an emergency expense of $1,000, […]

Published on May 25, 2021 by Carrie Sheffield of the Independent Women’s Forum It would be leaving America’s most vulnerable people out in the cold. Democrats claim they serve the poor, but their latest plan will hurt low-income Americans’—especially racial minorities, immigrants and young people—ability to tap loans that pay for bills like water and […]

The article appeared in the National Review on May 16, 2021, by John Fund. Read the original article by clicking here.  But what should millions of Americans without credit cards or bank accounts do? In 2017, the Federal Reserve estimated that one in four American families did not have enough savings to take care of an […]

Los Angeles Daily News Opinion published on May 17, 2021, by Shirley Svorny.  Read the original article by clicking here.  Last week, the Los Angeles City Council’s Economic Development and Jobs Committee approved a motion in support of the Municipal Bank of Los Angeles. It is a bad idea. Supporters confuse lending with spending. The […]

Read original article at The Orange County Register By the Editorial Board California lawmakers have a ready solution for almost any problem, no matter how large or small: Create a new government bureaucracy to administer some “landmark” program. Yet after the new agency is in place, the state rarely has any appetite for analyzing how […]

An op-ed by Aaron Klein published at Brookings.edu The explosion of overdraft fees makes basic banking expensive for people living paycheck to paycheck. Banks and credit unions generate over $34 billion in overdraft fees annually by one estimate. What those with money experience as ‘free checking’ is quite expensive for those without. Prior research has focused on who […]

Original article featured in the Las Cruces Sun News Paul J. Gessing,  President of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation Politicians often claim to be helping “the poor” with the policies they enact. But people with the resources to take extended time away from their work and spend months in committee hearings are inherently not “representative” […]

The Real Cost of Overdraft Fees Published on Oct. 7th, 2020 in the American Banker by Laura Alix This article discusses the real costs to consumers from bank overdraft fees. Overdraft fees exceed 1,000% APR. This is a lightly edited transcript from the Bankshot podcast.  The fees have helped banks recoup costs of free or […]

Proposed Cap on lending would hurt Nebraska’s low-income families   OP-ED by Thomas Aiello appears in The Omaha World-Herald on October 11, 2020.  Click Here to Read Original Article   Too many policies with noble intentions end up hurting the very Americans they are supposed to be helping. For a prime example, look no further […]

Consumers Win As Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Finalizes Payday Loan Rule Click here to read the originally published article in Forbes on July 8, 2020 On Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officially rescinded the most harmful provisions of its 2017 payday lending rule. Good riddance. Thankfully, Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger stood up to the onslaught from so-called […]

CFPB’s (correct) decision to rescind payday limits comes at the right time Click here to view the original article by the American Banker on July 8, 2020   The coronavirus pandemic has both revealed and dispelled a number of assumptions about consumer-spending habits during difficult times. While popular wisdom would suggest that times of economic […]

Virginia’s biggest payday loan firm is leaving as state crackdown looms Click here to read the original article published by The Daily Press, Newport News, VA Virginia’s largest payday lender is pulling out of the state ahead of stricter new regulations that will take effect next year. Advance America surrendered its payday and title loan […]

Short-term loans are lifelines for many Americans Op-Ed by Kerry Jackson a fellow in California studies for the Pacific Research Institute, and a freelance journalist. Published by The Orange County Register on March 26, 2020   America’s economic shutdown, with its layoffs and business failures, could wipe out 5 to 6 million jobs in March […]

Liberal Nonprofit Recruits CFPB Official Who Gave it Special Access Article by Yuichiro Kakutani and published by Washington Free Beacon, DC on March 8, 2020 A progressive nonprofit recruited a top Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official who gave its activists significant access to the agency’s policy and hiring decisions. The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) […]

Bloomberg, Sanders, and Warren want to use post offices as banks Article Published in Fortune Magazine on March 4, 2020 Most American city dwellers are used to seeing a favorite ice cream shop or watering hole seemingly replaced overnight with a shiny new consumer bank. The switch from PBR to APR can be quick and […]

The Washington Post Plays Fast and Loose in Coverage of CFPB Performance During Pandemic Article by Matthew Adams and published by The Competitive Enterprise Institute on August 26, 2020.  In a recent piece, Washington Post Opinions Contributor Helaine Olen slammed CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger for doing too little to protect consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Olen claims that […]

Opinion: Don’t restrict payday loans people need to survive the pandemic Published by The Detroit News, September 22, 2020.  The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented hardship for millions of families in all corners of our country. More than 16 million people were unemployed in July, countless businesses are either prohibited from operating or significantly limited in their […]

Payday Loans Aren’t a Problem, Student Loans Are Published September 23, 2020, by The Minnesota Republic I think most can agree that when it comes to borrowing money—and lending it, for that matter—everybody should be treated fairly. Recently, various politicians across the country have been going after payday lenders by calling for capping loan interest […]

The Hill – 2/3/2020 (reprinted) By Bill Himper, Opinion Contributor Click here to view the full article Perhaps coincidentally an organization not wholly unfamiliar with less than reputable financial institutions, the Center for Responsible Lending, released a poll that indicated a bipartisan majority of American consumers supported a 36 percent rate cap on pay day and installment loans. Let […]

Cincinnati Enquirer – 1/2/2020 (reprinted) By Jessie Balmert Click here to view the full article COLUMBUS – Fighting unscrupulous payday lenders has been the Ohio politics version of whack-a-mole for years. Voters passed restrictions in 2008, but the industry circumvented them. Ohio lawmakers tried to rein in astronomical interest rates and businesses battled back. The quarrel even ensnared […]

Daily Torch – 2/3/2020 (reprinted) By Rick Manning Click here to view the full article The Virginia legislature is rushing to pass a bill that would have disastrous consequences for Old Dominion residents. In the coming weeks, a law that would cap at 36 percent the interest rate on short-term loans up to $2,500 and […]

CNBC – 2/5/2020 (reprinted) By Eric Rosenbaum Click here to view the full article KEY POINTS High school students go on to make better financial decisions in states that require personal finance coursework. That includes how to pay for college, taking out loans and loan repayment, avoiding payday lenders and credit card debt. Five states […]

Independent Women’s Forum – 2/5/2020 (reprinted) By Patrice Lee Onwuka Click here to view the full article If you had a $400 emergency like car damage or sudden medical bill, could you afford to pay it? Unfortunately, 40 percent of Americans (and half of military families) don’t have enough saved to cover such a bill. […]

To read the article from The Hill click here.  BY BEAU BRUNSON AND JOE CONWAY, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 09/19/19 03:30 PM EDT The California legislature just passed a financial policy that would have dreadful consequences for the consumers it seeks to protect. Congress is considering a similar measure as Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced a bill and the House Financial Services Committee […]

Tim Worstall, a senior fellow at the Adam Smith Institute, discusses the dangers of eliminating short-term loans without a viable alternative.

Original Article via Diego Zuluaga, CNN Business May 17, 2019 Back in the early 1900s, Progressives helped drive loan sharks out of business by lobbying to lift state usury caps. Those caps had barred lenders from charging interest above 6% to 10% a year, forcing low-income Americans to seek credit in the illegal market. Now, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez […]

Original Article via Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Washington Post May 19, 2019 In 1978, the Supreme Court essentially gutted all state usury laws, freeing interest rates and sparking a credit card boom. Around that time, 38 percent of U.S. households had a credit card; as of 2014, 71 percent did. Total revolving debt rose from $48 […]

Original Article via Thomas P. Vartanian, The Hill May 19, 2019 Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(D-N.Y.) introduced the Loan Shark Prevention Act amid a litany of references to executive compensation, payday lenders and credit card “rip offs.” They even invoked the Bible’s admonitions against usury. The bill would create a nationwide 15-percent annual […]

Original Article via Gazette Staff, Texarkana Gazette May 20, 2019 U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have an idea they think would do the public a lot of good. And it looks OK on paper. But the reality doesn’t measure up. Their idea is to put a maximum interest rate […]

Original Article via Tim Worstall, Washington Examiner May 28, 2019 Rep. Alexandria Ocsaio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have apparently decided to try to ban credit cards. Sure, that’s not quite what Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders actually say (they just want to stop the swindlers profiting from excessive interest charges), but that’s the […]

Original Article via Anna Bahney, CNN Money May 22, 2018 Can you cover an unexpected $400 expense? Four in ten Americans can’t, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Board. Those who don’t have the cash on hand say they’d have to cover it by borrowing or selling something. The bright side? That’s […]

The truth is consumers use payday loans to get through a financial pinch, typically for a relatively short period of time. The vast majority who use payday loans understand the product and responsibly use it to make informed choices about what is best for their finances.

But do consumers really need protection from these lenders? Or perhaps do they sometimes benefit from having this resource, albeit at interest rates that should discourage anyone of making a lifelong habit of obtaining these loans?

Financial regulators and Antifa leaders might seem like strange bedfellows, but it seems the creators of the Payday lending regulations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had a prominent Antifa member’s advice in mind while designing these now defunct regulations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) now proposes to rescind key provisions of its 2017 payday lending rule. Good. The old rule threatens to starve millions of hard working Americans out of short-term credit markets.

Chalk up another win for President Trump’s deregulatory agenda – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week announced a plan to reconsider an Obama-era regulation that would have made it harder for working Americans to access credit.

If the economy is so great and unemployment is so low, why do so many Americans live paycheck to paycheck? And why don’t we seem to care?

Two recent announcements by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have proponents of increased financial regulation up in arms.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently proposed the elimination of new payday lending rules created under the Obama Administration and imposed in 2017.

The comment period on a critical new initiative to promote innovation in financial services from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau closed this Monday.

When Kentucky state Treasurer Allison Ball and a colleague talked with high school seniors last year about credit cards and other pieces of the personal finance puzzle, something wasn’t right.

The super-rich see one thing very clearly.

Let’s be clear: If the government takes away this legal, regulated option for credit, many customers will still need to find a way to pay for living expenses and unexpected emergencies like having to repair a heater this winter. 

In addition to Google’s recently announced ban on payday loan ads, an update shared by David Graff, director of global product policy, says: “In the U.S., we are also banning ads for loans with an [Annual Percentage Rate] of 36 percent or higher.” It looks like Google is jumping onto the 36 Percent Rate-Cap Bandwagon.

“I honestly didn’t think about saving my money until I was in the [music] business. I’m the kind of person who, if I have money, I want to use it to treat the people in my life. So I didn’t even have a legitimate, for-real bank account until I was 18 and got signed.”