Cordray affirms credit unions’ small loans, defends exemption stance

CFPB views credit unions’ payday alternative loans as a “good product” and wants to make room for those loans in its payday lending rulemaking, CFPB Director Richard Cordray told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday as he delivered his semiannual report to the panel.

In testimony similar to that given last month before the House Financial Services Committee, Cordray testified before the panel about CFPB’s regulatory and enforcement activities, future rulemaking and the bureau’s regulatory relief efforts for credit unions.

The CFPB director fielded numerous questions from committee members on matters important to credit unions, including consumer services and regulatory topics, such as the bureau’s exemption authority.

Asked by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., what solutions are out there for small, short-term credit, Cordray noted the role of credit unions and singled out PALs as a good, law-abiding product. He added that the bureau wants to allow room for the product under any new rules on payday lending.

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