Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Can Banks Disrupt the Payday Lending Business?
Can Banks Disrupt the Payday Lending Business?
Jan 17, 2026 12:37 AM

Since its inception in the 1990s, the payday lending industry has grown at an astonishing pace. Currently, there are about 22,000 payday lending locations — more than two for every Starbucks — that originate an estimated $27 billion in annual loan volume.

But payday lenders may soon face some petition. A few of the largest consumer banks in America are considering goingto market with new small-dollar installment loan products, reports the American Banker.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. government’s consumer protection agency, isconsidering proposing rulesthat would end payday debt traps by requiring lenders to take steps to make sure consumers can repay their loans. One of the proposals is to exempt lenders from certain requirements if the amount the consumer is required to pay each month is no more than 5 percent of the consumer’s gross monthly e. According to American Banker:

[T]he banks said if the 5% exemption is part of the proposal, they believe they can offer a product that would satisfy regulators. A mockup of what the product could look like would be a $500 five-month loan for a borrower with an annual e of $30,000 and monthly payments of $125 (or 5% of the borrower’s $2,500 average monthly e). After assuming a 6% loss rate (which would parable to similar installment loans currently on the market), automation expenses and servicing fees, a bank could net roughly $70 while the borrower would be on the hook for $125. The average cost of a similar payday loan product would be closer to $750.

“The 5% payment option is the only part of the CFPB proposal that could save millions of borrowers billions of dollars,” said Nick Bourke, director of the small-dollar loans project at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “It would enhance underwriting while pliance costs by capping the monthly payment at 5% of the borrower’s e with a term up to six months.”

The banks wouldn’t make much money off of these types of loans, but as the article notes, they would increase goodwill with munities and potentially entice under-banked consumers to use other banking services and products.

The CFPB is set to announce the beginning of the payday lending rulemaking process next Thursday, June 2nd at a field hearing in Kansas City.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Verse of the Day
  Deuteronomy 8:17-18a In-Context   15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.   16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on John 8:30-36   (Read John 8:30-36)   Such power attended our Lord's words, that many were convinced, and professed to believe in him. He encouraged them to attend his teaching, rely on his promises, and obey his commands, notwithstanding all temptations to evil. Thus doing, they would be his disciples truly; and by the teaching of...
Verse of the Day
  1 John 4:21 In-Context   19 We love because he first loved us.   20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.   21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Proverbs 21:3   (Read Proverbs 21:3)   Many deceive themselves with a conceit that outward devotions will excuse unrighteousness.   Proverbs 21:3 In-Context   1 In the Lord's hand the king's heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.   2 A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Proverbs 25:28   (Read Proverbs 25:28)   The man who has no command over his anger, is easily robbed of peace. Let us give up ourselves to the Lord, and pray him to put his Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in his statutes.   Proverbs 25:28 In-Context   26 Like a muddied spring or a...
Verse of the Day
  Isaiah 45:5-6 In-Context   3 I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.   4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Proverbs 10:19   (Read Proverbs 10:19)   Those that speak much, speak much amiss. He that checks himself is a wise man, and therein consults his own peace.   Proverbs 10:19 In-Context   17 Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.   18 Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on 1 Peter 3:14-22   (Read 1 Peter 3:14-22)   We sanctify God before others, when our conduct invites and encourages them to glorify and honour him. What was the ground and reason of their hope? We should be able to defend our religion with meekness, in the fear of God. There is no room for any...
Verse of the Day
  Matthew 6:2 In-Context   1 Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.   2 So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Proverbs 10:18   (Read Proverbs 10:18)   He is especially a fool who thinks to hide anything from God; and malice is no better.   Proverbs 10:18 In-Context   16 The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.   17 Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved