Online Loans Help Families Meet Immediate Credit Needs
A recent piece by Ed Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group ["Regulators Play 'Whack-a-Mole' With Predatory Lenders," August 13] vilifying the short-term, online lending industry as “predatory” grossly misrepresented companies focused on serving the very real financial needs of the consumers he claims to support. Millions of consumers used an online, short-term loan over the past year to meet the immediate credit needs of their families. Our industry has seen a significant increase in demand for these credit products since the housing collapse in 2008 when other...
Read MoreTribal Online Lenders Ask Banks to Resist Regulatory Pressure
An association of online lenders operated by Native American tribes called on banks to resist pressure from New York State to cut them off from the nation’s primary payment system. The Native American Financial Services Association said the state’s regulators are violating the tribes’ sovereign immunity when they ask banks to prevent them from making and collecting on short-term, high-cost loans via the Internet. “We want you to be aware that we view these actions as a direct threat to tribal sovereignty and our efforts to develop economic self-sufficiency,” Barry Brandon, the...
Read MoreIndian Tribes to Banks: Ignore That Man Behind the Curtain
Indian tribes are urging banks to ignore attempts by New York’s top banking regulator to stop processing transactions for online lenders whose loans allegedly violate state interest-rate caps. The Native American Financial Services Association, a group that represents 16 tribes engaged in online lending, sent letters to Bank of America Corp.BAC +1.07%, Capital One Financial Corp.COF -0.11%, J.P. Morgan ChaseJPM +0.55% & Co., Wells FargoWFC -0.14% & Co. and numerous other financial institutions Wednesday, arguing the New York Department of Financial Services’ action infringes...
Read MoreNY finance official on the warpath against Native American payday lenders
Native American tribes are asking New York State’s top banking regulator to leave their payday loan businesses alone. Regulator Ben Lawsky sent cease-and-desist letters last week to 35 lenders and 112 banks providing or facilitating short-term, high-interest payday loans to consumers online. The letters claim that the businesses charge interest rates far exceeding New York’s cap of 25 percent annually, putting them in violation of the law. Although many of the companies are not incorporated in New York, Lawsky claims jurisdiction because some New Yorkers purchased the loans. Many of the...
Read MoreIndian Tribes Oppose New York Order on Online Lenders
Indian tribes are refusing to comply with a New York financial regulator’s attempt to shut down their online-lending operations, arguing the state has no authority and is trying to block legal businesses. Tribes that make loans over the Internet are planning to challenge Benjamin M. Lawsky, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, in tribal or federal court later this month. “We are considering every legal avenue that we could possibly take,” said Robert Rosette, an Arizona lawyer who represents them. Last week, Mr. Lawsky ordered 35 online and...
Read MoreLetter to the NYT Editor: Native American Initiative
To the Editor: “Pain on the Reservation” (Business Day, July 13), highlighting the problems facing Indian country and the difficulty of solving them, correctly notes that many tribes cannot operate profitable casinos because they are not close to major population centers, deepening our pain as Congress forces austerity.
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