When the invitation came out for the June 2nd CFPB Public Field Hearing on payday lending Ann Marie, our CEO, said' 'That sounds FASCINATING!' You should fly to Kansas City and go.
I could have never in a million years predicted how accurate the word 'fascinating' would be to describe the experience.
The mayor of Kansas City spoke about how adamant he was that payday loans were out of control and regulatory help was needed; CFPB Director, Richard Cordray, presented a number of facts on the amount of payday loans that go unpaid because of the high interest rates being charged by predatory lenders; a panel of 4 panelists spoke in favor of offering small dollar loans to consumers who are in need of the quick turnaround of credit, asking the CFPB to be considerate of 'life' happening to consumers; and 4 panelist spoke out against the payday lending industry and demanded the CFPB take action.
But what I found really fascinating were two things:
1. The 'consumers' represented.
There were T-shirts speaking out in favor, Hashtags opposing, Picket lines, Media coverage, Rudeness to the panelists, Vulgarities, Time committed to advocate (both in favor and against), and Four hours of 1-minute public comments.
I can only assume that each person speaking had a personal 'story'. Maybe they fell victim to a predatory lender, maybe they owned a payday lending shop, maybe their mom used payday lending as a way to fuel her drug habit, maybe dad used payday lending to pay child support...but the passion of each individual speaking had to come from somewhere...personal!
2. The fact that both sides of the debate were essentially saying the same thing.
At the end of the day, both sides had the same message:
'Allow consumers access to reasonable credit within a reasonable time with a reasonable chance to pay it back.' But, neither side was willing to listen to the other to hear that they were both saying the same thing; and, both sides argued what the definition of 'reasonable' should be!
The NPRM was released by the CFPB. It's about 1,300 pages if you wanna read it. But my crystal ball tells me the executive summary of the final Rule might go something like this:
'This Rule allows consumers access to reasonable credit within a reasonable time with a reasonable chance to pay it back.' The fascinating part will be how the CFPB decides to define 'reasonable!'