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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Card Act On Campus, Jim Hawkins
The Card Act On Campus, Jim Hawkins
Washington and Lee Law Review
In February 2010, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act intervened in student credit card markets in a dramatic way, attempting to prevent student over-indebtedness, to end aggressive marketing to college students, and to reveal and change avaricious agreements between credit card issuers and colleges. Yet, two years after it became effective, we still have little measurement of whether the Act has accomplished these goals. This Article offers the first empirical assessment of the rationales for the CARD Act and the Act’s effects. Over the two years since the CARD Act went into effect, I conducted surveys of …
Credit On Wheels: The Law And Business Of Auto-Title Lending, Jim Hawkins
Credit On Wheels: The Law And Business Of Auto-Title Lending, Jim Hawkins
Washington and Lee Law Review
Despite the fact that they are used by millions of Americans, auto-title loans have received little attention in the legal literature about consumer credit. Friends and foes of title lending make confident statements about their net welfare effects, but we still lack empirical data on many of the central policy questions that title lending raises. This Article offers new evidence about the title lending transaction, paying special attention to the risks borrowers face when they use their vehicles as collateral for the loan. I gathered this evidence by obtaining new reports from state regulators about the title lending industry, examining …
Mortgaging Human Capital: Federally Funded Subprime Higher Education, Jean Braucher
Mortgaging Human Capital: Federally Funded Subprime Higher Education, Jean Braucher
Washington and Lee Law Review
The for-profit higher education sector, primarily funded by federal student aid dollars, produces both the highest debts and defaults and lowest completion rates for its students. In response, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has promulgated the Gainful Employment Rule to require for-profit colleges and universities to meet either repayment or debt-to-income benchmarks to remain eligible to receive federal Higher Education Act funding. This Article describes the business model of the career colleges and their rapid growth over the last decade, the history of proprietary school regulation, the limited remedies for overindebtedness of former students, and the tests imposed by …
Payday Lending, Bankruptcy, And Insolvency, Richard Hynes
Payday Lending, Bankruptcy, And Insolvency, Richard Hynes
Washington and Lee Law Review
Economic theory suggests that payday lending can either increase or decrease consumer welfare. Consumers can use payday loans to cushion the effects of financial shocks, but payday loans may also increase the chance that consumers will succumb to temptation or cognitive errors and seek instant gratification. Both supporters and critics of payday lending have alleged that the welfare effects of the industry can be substantial and that the legalization of payday lending can even have measurable effects on proxies for financial distress, such as bankruptcy, foreclosure, and property crime. Critics further allege that payday lenders target minority and military communities, …
Loan Sharks, Interest-Rate Caps, And Deregulation, Robert Mayer
Loan Sharks, Interest-Rate Caps, And Deregulation, Robert Mayer
Washington and Lee Law Review
The specter of the loan shark is often conjured by advocates of price deregulation in the market for payday loans. If binding price caps are imposed, the argument goes, loan sharks will be spawned. This is the loan-shark thesis. This Article tests that thesis against the historical record of payday lending in the United States since the origins of the quick-cash business around the Civil War. Two different types of creditors have been derided as “loan sharks” since the epithet was first coined. One used threats of violence to collect its debts but the other did not. The former has …
Credit And Human Welfare: Lessons From Microcredit In Developing Nations, Alan M. White
Credit And Human Welfare: Lessons From Microcredit In Developing Nations, Alan M. White
Washington and Lee Law Review
Deregulation of usury laws, in the United States and in developing nations, has permitted various forms of small loans to be made to the poor and the working class, sometimes at very high prices. In the case of credit, more is not always better. A human development approach to evaluating the welfare impacts of credit products for the poor asks these questions: does a credit product or program increase income or consumption, achieve savings through investment in capital goods, or smooth consumption and avert crises, all at a reasonable cost? Or does the credit on balance redistribute income away from …
Foreword For Regulation In The Fringe Economy Symposium, John P. Caskey
Foreword For Regulation In The Fringe Economy Symposium, John P. Caskey
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.
Regulating Online Peer-To-Peer Lending In The Aftermath Of Dodd–Frank: In Search Of An Evolving Regulatory Regime For An Evolving Industry, Eric C. Chaffee, Geoffrey C. Rapp
Regulating Online Peer-To-Peer Lending In The Aftermath Of Dodd–Frank: In Search Of An Evolving Regulatory Regime For An Evolving Industry, Eric C. Chaffee, Geoffrey C. Rapp
Washington and Lee Law Review
The 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act called for a government study of the regulatory options for on-line Peer-to-Peer lending. On-line P2P sites, most notably for-profit sites Prosper.com and LendingClub.com, offer individual “investors” the chance to lend funds to individual “borrowers.” The sites promise lower interest rates for borrowers and high rates of return for investors. In addition to the media attention such sites have generated, they also raise significant regulatory concerns on both the state and federal level. The Government Accountability Office report produced in response to the Dodd–Frank Act failed to make a strong recommendation …
The Alliance Between Payday Lenders And Tribes: Are Both Tribal Sovereignty And Consumer Protection At Risk?, Nathalie Martin, Joshua Schwartz
The Alliance Between Payday Lenders And Tribes: Are Both Tribal Sovereignty And Consumer Protection At Risk?, Nathalie Martin, Joshua Schwartz
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Damage Of Debt, Katherine Porter
The Damage Of Debt, Katherine Porter
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.
After The Great Recession: Regulating Financial Services For Low- And Middle-Income Communities, Ronald J. Mann
After The Great Recession: Regulating Financial Services For Low- And Middle-Income Communities, Ronald J. Mann
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.
Regulation Of Payday Loans: Misguided?, Paige Marta Skiba
Regulation Of Payday Loans: Misguided?, Paige Marta Skiba
Washington and Lee Law Review
Since payday lenders came on the scene in 1990s, regulation of their “predatory” practices has been swift and often severe. Fourteen states now ban payday loans outright. From an economist’s perspective, high-interest, short-term, small loans need not be a bad thing. Payday credit can help borrowers “smooth” consumption, unequivocally improving welfare as consumers borrow from future good times to help cover current shortfalls. These benefits of credit can accrue even at typical payday loan interest rates of 300%–600% APR. The question of whether payday credit actually assists borrowers in this way is an empirical one. In this Article, I review …
“Warning: Predatory Lender”—A Proposal For Candid Predatory Small Loan Ordinances, Christopher L. Peterson
“Warning: Predatory Lender”—A Proposal For Candid Predatory Small Loan Ordinances, Christopher L. Peterson
Washington and Lee Law Review
Over a hundred different local governments around the country have adopted ordinances restricting small, high-cost loans. This trend reflects the solid majority of the American public that opposes the legality of triple-digit interest rate loans and the long historical tradition of treating payday and car-title lending as a serious civil offense or even a crime. Nevertheless, perhaps owing to limits on municipal power, local payday lending law has generated relatively little scholarship or commentary. This paper describes the existing local law governing small, high-cost consumer loans and proposes a more emphatic ordinance that better reflects the policy judgment of many …
Congress Protected The Troops: Can The New Cfpb Protect Civilians From Payday Lending?, Creola Johnson
Congress Protected The Troops: Can The New Cfpb Protect Civilians From Payday Lending?, Creola Johnson
Washington and Lee Law Review
In 2007, Congress enacted a law, commonly referred to as the Military Lending Act (MLA), which placed a 36% interest rate cap on several consumer loans, including payday loans, and prohibits lenders from engaging in several practices considered predatory. However, the MLA grants these protections only to active-duty military members and their dependent family members. In the wake of the mortgage foreclosure crisis, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd–Frank Act), which creates a new federal agency, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), to focus on …
Payday Loan Prohibitions: Protecting Financially Challenged Consumers Or Pushing Them Over The Edge?, William M. Webster, Iv
Payday Loan Prohibitions: Protecting Financially Challenged Consumers Or Pushing Them Over The Edge?, William M. Webster, Iv
Washington and Lee Law Review
As recovery from the economic downturn continues, American consumers face an unabated need for short-term, small-dollar credit. To cope with this need, millions choose to take out payday loans. Often the subject of controversy and criticism, these loans have become a mainstream credit option, considered by consumers alongside so-called “traditional” credit products offered by banks and credit unions. This article examines the issues surrounding payday loans, including consumer credit needs, critical options for fulfilling those needs and consumer rationale, from the perspective of Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc., the country’s largest non-bank provider of cash advance services. When faced …
The Economics And Regulation Of Bank Overdraft Protection, Todd J. Zywicki
The Economics And Regulation Of Bank Overdraft Protection, Todd J. Zywicki
Washington and Lee Law Review
Consumer use of bank overdraft protection has risen rapidly over the past decade, leading to increased scrutiny and the imposition of new regulations. Public and political debate regarding overdraft protection has highlighted anecdotal stories about irresponsible college students who overdraw their accounts to buy a cup of coffee, thereby triggering substantial overdraft fees. But there has been little systematic examination of the safety and soundness or consumer protection issues implicated by the increased use of overdraft protection. Available evidence indicates that those who rely on overdraft protection tend to have low credit ratings and use overdraft protection to maintain short-term …