You’ve probably read a thing or two about the Payday Lending Rule over the past couple of years. There are actually two different parts to this Rule: 1) The Ability to 
Repay/underwriting requirements; and, 2) The Payment requirements. Recently, concerns from various groups have been raised that may have led you to believe that the “Ability to Repay” part had been removed from the Rule. Not so fast, at least at this point!
While the rule technically went into effect on January 16, 2018, the mandatory compliance date is actually set for August 19, 2019. In February, however, the CFPB issued two separate proposals. The first was to delay the “Ability to Repay” requirements until November and the second was to remove the “Ability to Repay” requirements from the Rule altogether. Again, these are just proposals at this point! There is also a court-ordered stay currently in effect that could impact the August 19th mandatory compliance date for both the Ability to Repay and Payment requirements, as compliance won’t be required until the stay is lifted. Great news, right? Again, not so fast! While this stay is currently in effect, meaning you won’t be required to comply with the Rule until the stay is lifted, the CFPB could ask for the stay to be lifted at any time.
So, what does all this mean? Well, since we can’t predict with any certainty when the stay will be lifted or whether the August 19th mandatory compliance date will change, you need to be ready to go on this one! Of course, the first step is to determine whether you make loans covered by the Rule. If you do, then you need to know what to do. We can help with both!
Be sure to join us on April 23, 2019, for “Who’s Covered? The New Payday Loan Rules”. This 30-minute flash webinar will help you determine if you are covered by the payday lending rule. If you find you are subject to the Rule, you won’t want to miss “Payday Loan Requirements” on April 30, 2019, where we will spend two hours covering the ins and outs of the new Rule.
Published
Diane Dean
03/29/19
