Payday Loan Sharks Have Good Friend in Government: Democratic Party Chair

Sketchy payday loan sharks, whose short-term, high-interest loans trap millions of Americans in a cycle of debt, have a new ally on Capitol Hill—Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is reportedly pushing a bill that would “gut” forthcoming industry regulations.

According to a memo seen by the Huffington Post, Rep. Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is co-sponsoring legislation (pdf) to delay new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), meant to crack down on abusive payday lending that profits off deceptive terms, automatic “rollovers,” staggering fees, and interest rates averaging over 300 percent annual percentage rate (APR).

The so-called “Consumer Protection and Choice Act” would delay those rules for two years and “permanently block them in any state that enacts the sort of ineffectual, industry-crafted regulatory sham that Florida adopted in 2001,” ThinkProgress reports. 

In December, 265 civil rights, labor, and consumer advocacy groups signed onto a letter opposing the legislation, which they decried as “an attempt to codify industry-backed practices that do little to protect consumers.”