Despite recent regulatory changes designed to encourage banks to offer small dollar loans few banks are taking up the challenge; with an election less than four months away many banks are concerned about a flip back to more stringent rules on small dollar lending so they don’t want to put time and resources into building a product with an uncertain future; the recent Supreme Court decision allowing CFPB directors to be fired at will upended plans by banks to develop small-dollar loan products; the CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association, Richard Hunt, said, “Banks want to serve their customers, but with uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to create an at-will [CFPB] director during an election year, I would not expect many institutions to invest time and resources into a new product”; the only large banks to offer a small dollar loan product are US Bank and KeyBank and that is not likely to change any time soon. American Banker.
