On the recordMay 11, 2021
I am on the floor to urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the resolution that we will be voting on shortly. This is a resolution to protect all of our constituents against predatory lenders--people who lend others money at loan shark rates and often in deceptive language that can be very confusing to consumers until they get the phone call, and they are told they owe unaffordable amounts on loans. And States have been working very hard to protect consumers. In fact, 45 States--States with Republican Governors and Democratic Governors, Republican attorneys general and Democratic attorneys general--45 States and the District of Columbia have passed laws to protect their constituents, their consumers from these loan shark-type loans, from these predatory lending practices. But we have seen these predatory lenders find a way around these State efforts to protect their consumers. And the tactic they used has come to be known as ``rent-a-bank.'' And the way it works is that national banks can make loans into any State, even if they are not chartered in that State. And so what has happened is, some of these lenders then go to a national bank and essentially just borrow their name, buy the rights to their name and, using that mechanism, then can make loans into all 50 States, in violation of the State law protections against these usurious loans. That is what is happening now.…
