1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebar Federal Banking Regulator Finalizes Rule on State Usury Laws July 9, 2020 On May 29, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized a rule concerning federal banking regulation and state usury
2、 law that has pitted the financial industry against consumer advocacy groups. The OCCs rule addresses the scope of a federal law empowering national banks to “export” the maximum interest rates of their “home” states when lending to borrowers in other states with stricter usury laws. The finalized p
3、roposalwhich abrogates a 2015 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuitextends this “exportation power” to non-banks when they purchase loans originated by banks. Industry groups have hailed the measure as providing regulatory certainty to banks, financial technology (“FinTech”)
4、 firms, and the roughly $563 billion market for securitized consumer debt. In contrast, consumer organizations have criticized the rule for enabling predatory lending and exceeding the scope of the OCCs legal authority. But the agency is unlikely to have the final word: the rule will probably be cha