Payday lenders have been mobilizing their customers to push the federal government to ease Obama-era regulations of the industry, according to research by a consumer advocacy group that favors the rules.
Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began soliciting public comment on a proposed rule governing small-dollar, high-interest consumer loans, the lenders have organized thousands of customers who have sent in duplicated comments in support of the change, said Allied Progress, the consumer group.
The proposed rule, unveiled in February by Kathy Kraninger, the new director of the CFPB under President Trump, has been welcomed by payday and auto-title lenders. It aims in effect to repeal a regulation enacted under President Obama that would have imposed tough new underwriting standards. The 90-day public comment period ends May 15.
Read: For desperate Americans considering a payday loan, here are other options
In a report to be published Tuesday, Allied Progress found that nearly a quarter of the 16,761 public comments submitted as of May 11 contained duplicated language supporting the latest regulatory revision.
For example, 2,364 comments said, “As you take a second look at the payday loan rule, please don’t make it more difficult for me to get these loans … Millions of Americans like me rely on payday loans, and the government shouldn’t take away our access to credit.”
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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