ARLINGTON, Va. (March 28, 2025)—After the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it would not prioritize enforcement or supervision actions related to the 2017 Small Dollar Loan Rule, Online Lenders Alliance Chief Executive Officer Andrew Duke issued the following statement:
“We applaud the CFPB for hitting the brakes on the Small Dollar Rule’s payment provisions. This was a politically driven rule when it was released in 2017, and now it is an outdated, politically driven rule.
“The Bureau justified the Rule in 2017 based on old data and flawed assumptions, and since then, the marketplace has changed dramatically. The Rule could seriously impact access to credit for those consumers most in need, and the Bureau is correct to take a step back.
“OLA has been working for months to obtain a pause in the Rule’s implementation, and I want to thank our members, staff, and consultants for all of their work and efforts. I also want to thank other industry partners for their important contributions. While today’s announcement is welcome news, we urge the CFPB to conduct a review of the rule to evaluate its effects on a substantially changed marketplace, and act accordingly based on its findings.”
The CFPB initially issued its Small Dollar Rule in 2017, which was subsequently embroiled in a years-long legal challenge. After the Supreme Court upheld the CFPB’s funding mechanism, the Bureau released a blog post last June announcing that the rule would go into effect on March 30, 2025.
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