Financial Services & Consumer · Policy Lab
Payday Lending and Predatory Consumer Finance
A public research route covering institutions, existing frameworks, possible interventions, and open policy questions.
How to interpret these labels
Urgency is a qualitative editorial assessment of time sensitivity and potential severity in the underlying working research. Addressability is a qualitative assessment of whether identifiable institutions and public interventions may materially affect the issue. The labels are research triage categories; they are not measured forecasts, comparative rankings, or recommendations. Recheck both classifications against current primary sources before use.
Possible public intervention
APR caps (36% Military Lending Act standard). Cooling-off periods between loans. Ability-to-repay requirements. Bank account access mandates (postal banking).
Institutions to examine
- CFPB
- State Financial Regulators
- OCC
- FDIC
Institution abbreviations
- CFPB
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- OCC
- Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
- FDIC
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- EU
- European Union
Existing frameworks and precedents
- Military Lending Act (2006)
- CFPB Payday Rule (2017, partially repealed)
- State rate caps (18 states + DC)
- EU Consumer Credit Directive
Open policy gap
CFPB authority weakened. 32 states allow triple-digit APRs. Tribal sovereignty and rent-a-bank models create regulatory arbitrage.
Legislative and policy forums
- Financial Services
- Banking
- ECON
Continue the research
Use Reform Pathfinder to locate jurisdiction-specific institutions and possible action paths. Use the public glossary for terminology and the selected publications for public evidence and methods.
Research-use notice. This material is for research and educational use. Information may be incomplete or out of date. Verify primary sources, current law, institutional authority, source dates, and local applicability before acting. This site does not provide legal, financial, investment, regulatory, or implementation advice.