INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) moved to gut the agency’s own consumer protections against predatory payday lenders yesterday, leaving Hoosier families exposed to high interest rates of payday lenders. The Indiana Assets & Opportunity Network opposes this action and urges that the CFPB’s 2017 rule on predatory lending take effect as soon as possible.

“We were deeply disappointed to hear of the CFPB’s decision yesterday afternoon,” said Logan Charlesworth, Indiana Assets & Opportunity Network Manager. “But decisions like these from Washington remind us why passing legislation here in Indiana that will protect Hoosier families from falling into the predatory lending debt trap is so important.”

On January 23, 2019, the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee held a hearing on SB 104, a bill that would cap small dollar, short term loans at 36 percent APR. It is the first time the state legislature has entertained an “offensive” proposal, a testament to the collective strength of all of the people and organizations backing a 36 percent APR cap on payday loans. The Indiana Assets & Opportunity Network strongly supports SB 104 and commends Senator Greg Walker (R-41) for authoring this bill to protect Hoosier consumers.

The Indiana Assets & Opportunity Network, which is co-led by Prosperity Indiana and the Indiana Institute for Working Families, has advocated for a 36 percent APR cap in Indiana alongside dozens of other Indiana-based organizations, which has effectively protected residents of 16 other states and Washington, D.C., as well as active duty military servicemembers from high interest rates from payday lenders.