Monday, August 5, 2013

DoD Military Finance Proposal Unneeded

ABA, NAFCU, and several other trade groups on August 1 wrote the Department of Defense (DOD) stating that current rules strike the right balance between protecting military financial customers and ensuring servicemembers have access to credit.

The DoD was soliciting comments on a proposal to expand the types of consumer credit covered by the Military Lending Act, which originally targeted refund anticipation loans, payday loans and car title loans for servicemembers.

The proposed expansion, the groups warned, would “increase costs, unnecessarily segregate the military, and possibly cause confusion for servicemembers and their families.” The groups cited research showing that prior regulations are “working as intended.”

The Military Lending Act’s provisions include stiff penalties for violations, oral disclosure requirements, a ban on mandatory arbitration and inflexible interest rates. If applied to more types of credit, the groups said, lenders may not be able to prudently offer credit to servicemembers.

Read the letter.

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