Back in 2014, during the first season of his hit HBO show “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver took on the payday loan industry. Boggled by loans that carried up to a 1,900 annual percentage rate (APR), Oliver offered up a revised version of the “Lion King” theme song. “It's the circle of debt!” he sang. “And it screws us all.” Oliver explained that the outrages of the payday loan industry couldn't be stopped because “they are incredibly good at avoiding regulation.”
Not anymore. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency charged with implementing and enforcing federal consumer law, just unveiled a new rule establishing, for the first time, uniform nationwide standards for payday loans and similar forms of credit. Under the rule, lenders will be required to verify a borrower's ability to repay before making a loan.
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