[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 165 (Thursday, November 5, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   END PREDATORY LENDING TO VETERANS

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                         HON. RAUL M. GRIJALVA

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 5, 2015

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, in commemoration of this year's Veterans 
Day, I want to take this opportunity to highlight the progress we have 
made in the past year protecting service-members, veterans and their 
families from harmful financial products and practices.
  Earlier this year, the Department of Defense finalized new rules to 
protect service-members and their families from triple-digit interest 
rate payday and car title loans that threatened their security 
clearance and careers. Unfortunately these protections are only 
available to active duty members, leaving our nation's veterans 
susceptible to predatory financial practices. Let us honor our veterans 
by declaring them off-limits to predatory lending and protecting them 
from the worst abuses in the payday lending industry.
  To protect veterans, their families, and all consumers, the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) must adopt the strongest possible 
rule to rein in the worst abuses in the payday loan market. 
Specifically, I ask that the CFPB meaningfully reform the marketplace 
by implementing rules governing both storefront and online payday 
lending that would require the lender to determine the borrower's 
ability to repay the loan, including consideration of both income and 
expenses.
  CFPB should not sanction any series of repeat loans or provide any 
safe harbor, and recognize that borrowers need small dollar loans with 
good terms, not short-term loans that are difficult for them to repay. 
These short-term loans are renewed a multitude of times and trap the 
average borrower in debt for more than half the year at rates that 
average 391 percent.
  The CFPB should establish an outer limit on length of indebtedness 
that is at least as short as the FDIC's 2005 guidelines--90 days in a 
twelve-month period, and lastly prohibit lenders from using post-dated 
checks of electronic access to a borrower's checking account as 
evidence of ability to repay the loan.
  Too many veterans are living in poverty and desperation--some are 
even driven to homelessness--due to these consumer protection loopholes 
that predatory lenders take advantage of, and we must do better. One 
homeless veteran is too many. This Veterans Day, let's end this 
predatory lending epidemic.

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