Mulvaney Letting More Predatory Payday Lenders Off the Hook


In a March 2018 Reuters article, National Credit Adjusters, an abusive debt collector for payday loan companies, confirmed that a pending case against the company is “dead.” By April 2015, “[s]tate Attorneys General and state and city regulators in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia had all taken action against National Credit Adjusters, a buyer of payday loan debts, for collecting and attempting to collect illegal payday loans in those states and cities, as well as abusive, harassing, and otherwise illegal collection tactics.”

Also in the Reuters report: “five people with direct knowledge of the matter” confirmed that Mulvaney is considering dropping pursuit of cases against payday industry companies Security Finance, Cash Express, and Triton Management Group. All these cases, and several others, had been approved for litigation by previous Consumer Bureau Director Richard Cordray.

Additional Background

“The top cop for U.S. consumer finance has decided not to sue a payday loan collector and is weighing whether to drop cases against three payday lenders, said five people with direct knowledge of the matter…. The payday loan cases are among about a dozen that Richard Cordray, the former agency chief, approved for litigation before he resigned in November…. The four previously unreported cases aimed to return more than $60 million to consumers, the people said. Cordray was ready to sue Kansas-based National Credit Adjusters (NCA), which primarily collects debt for online lenders operating on tribal land…. Mulvaney has dropped the matter and the case is ‘dead,’ Sarah Auchterlonie, a lawyer for NCA, told Reuters this week…. Consumers have complained that NCA threatened to have them jailed and sue family members, CFPB’s public database shows. A CFPB investigation found NCA wrongly collected roughly $50 million, of which the agency’s lawyers wanted to return about $45 million, sources said.” [Patrick Rucker, “Exclusive: Trump official quietly drops payday loan case, mulls others – sources,” Reuters,03/23/18.]

“State Attorneys General and state and city regulators in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia had all taken action against National Credit Adjusters, a buyer of payday loan debts, for collecting and attempting to collect illegal payday loans in those states and cities, as well as abusive, harassing, and otherwise illegal collection tactics.” [Lisa Stifler and Caryn Becker, “State, Federal Regulator Actions Highlight Widespread Debt Buyer Abuses,” Center for Responsible Lending, 04/2015.]