Payday Loan Rule To Be Officially Reconsidered

By Jennifer Janeira Nagle and Robert W. Sparkes

As we noted yesterday morning, January 16, 2018 officially marked the effective date of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Payday Rule (see here).

Not a moment too soon, the CFPB issued a press release yesterday afternoon announcing that it “intends to engage in a rulemaking process so that the Bureau may reconsider the Payday Rule.” The release is brief and notes only that yesterday’s effective date triggers an April 16, 2018 application deadline for entities interested in becoming registered information systems (think credit reporting agencies for payday lending), but that the CFPB “may waive this deadline pursuant to 12 C.F.R. 1041.11(c)(3)(iii).” That provision of the Code of Federal Regulations is part of the Payday Rule itself and permits the CFPB to waive deadlines as to the registered information systems deadlines only.

The CFPB’s announcement is silent as to the impact of this “reconsideration” on compliance with those provisions of the Payday Rule that directly impact payday lenders, such as new requirements that covered lenders must determine consumers’ ability to repay. With no additional information regarding the timing for the forthcoming rulemaking or what modifications to the Rule are being considered, questions remain as to what covered institutions should do moving forward with the Payday Rule otherwise effectively on the books.

Particularly now that rulemaking on the Payday Rule is back on the table, interested stakeholders may want to engage in order to achieve their particular policy objectives.

We will continue to monitor the Rule and provide updates.