Regulating Payday Loans: Why This Should Make the CFPB’S Short List

Nathalie Martin: While the CFPB has been controversial with politicians, its approval rating is high among every-day Americans. Conversely, as every public referendum on the subject shows, high interest loans like title loans and payday loans are very unpopular with Americans. This is understandable, given that such loans take advantage of society’s most needy, costing them money they cannot afford to lose.  Lenders who make these loans charge interest rates and fees so high that when they hear the details, most Americans insist that the loans must be illegal.