Pay-Day Loans

The Pay-Day Loan industry, a sub-prime lending mechanism which has pushed many low income users into a debt trap, has become the focus of federal regulatory rulemaking and state attorney general oversight.  

• FTC Payday Loans Consumer Information
   
• Legal Status of Payday Loans by State
   
• New York AG Brochure on Pay Day Loans
   
• Press Release, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, We’ve proposed a rule to protect consumers from payday debt traps (June 2, 2016).
   
• State Attorneys General Comments on CFPB Proposed Rules (Oct. 7, 2016).

For-Profit Colleges

For the last several years, regulators have focused their attention on the for-profit college industry. Through registered complaints by students, independent investigations conducted by media outlets and federal-state government agencies, revelations have emerged detailing the misrepresentations and outright deceptive practices of these universities. According to a PBS Frontline investigation "for-profits had charged students nearly five times as much as community colleges, while getting the bulk of their revenue, up to 90 percent, from student loans and grants — often from the federal government." This has led many state attorneys general and federal regulators to investigate and file suit against the industry, shutting down several of these schools in the process.

Investigations

• A Subprime Education, Frontline PBS (Sept. 2016).

Cases

• Corinthian Colleges, Inc. 
   
• Education Management Corporation 

Advocacy

• Annie Waldman,  Attorneys General Come Down on Accreditor of For-profit Colleges, ProPublica (Apr. 11, 2016).

Legislation/Regulation

• U.S. Department of Education Final Regulations Draft (Oct. 2016).

2009 Report - State Anti-Predatory Lending Laws

A 2009 report produced by the UNC Center for Community Capital and funded by the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School found that federal action to exempt national banks from state consumer protection led to more foreclosures and riskier lending practices. The report also found that anti-predatory lending laws enacted by some states to protect consumers from abusive and unfair mortgage practices saved many people from losing their homes to foreclosure.

• State Anti-Predatory Lending Laws Research Report, UNC Center for Community Capital (Oct. 5, 2009).