Stopping the Debt Trap in Orlando

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At the 2016 NCLR Annual Conference in Orlando last month, NCLR staff was out in full force collecting comments from attendees in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule to curb payday lenders’ abusive lending practices.

As we’ve highlighted in our Truth in Payday Lending series, the Latino community has especially fallen victim to these shady operators. In the absence of safe and affordable financial products, people desperately in need of cash turn to payday lenders, who prey on our communities. Promising relief, these payday lenders lure struggling Latinos into situations that quickly morph into an endless cycle of borrowing and debt.

payday_florida_no3_fbsizeThis market has long gone unregulated, but the proposed rule will for the first time introduce measures to make sure people don’t get sucked into debt traps. Under the proposed rule, an ability-to-repay principle for covered loans would be established. It would be based on a borrower’s monthly income and expenses. While this is already a principle for other types of loans, payday loans have not been subject to this important and fundamental determination of a borrower’s ability to afford a loan.

We have been collecting comments in support of the rule and last month we collected more than 3,000 comments in one weekend during our Annual Conference.

But we’re not done. We still need your help.

Here are a few ways you can submit your own stories or comments:

Show your support and help us protect struggling working people from falling prey to these unscrupulous lenders.

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