WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – released the following statement on the Treasury Department’s fintech report and the Office of the Controller of the Currency’s (OCC) announcement that it will grant national charters to online lenders. The Treasury report recommends repealing the CFPB’s federal payday-lending protections; while the national preemption afforded by the OCC charters will effectively repeal state efforts to regulate or supervise predatory lending.
In 2017, Senator Brown wrote to the OCC noting that federal regulators’ helped spur the 2008 financial crisis by overriding state subprime mortgage protections and urged it not to repeat that mistake. Today, it made that mistake. Treasury’s suggested repeal of the CFPB rule, combined with the OCC’s action, would give shady lenders free rein.
“As if it weren’t bad enough the Administration wants to give payday lenders a free pass to trap people in debt, now it is actively undermining Ohio’s efforts to protect working people from these predators,” Brown said. “The Administration should be working to raise pay for working Ohioans, not making it easier for payday lenders to saddle them with triple-digit interest rates.”