InfoBytes Blog
New York DFS Launches New Database Of Online Payday Lenders
On June 16, the New York DFS launched a new database of online lenders that have been subject to actions by DFS based on evidence of illegal payday lending, and announced that one national bank had agreed to start using the tool. The DFS believes the database will help financial institutions meet “know your customer” obligations with regard to online lenders and will help ensure that electronic payment and debit networks are not used to transmit or collect on allegedly illegal, online payday loans made to New York residents. According to the DFS, the national bank plans to use the information about companies that may be engaged in illegal lending to (i) help confirm that its merchant customers are not using their accounts to make or collect on illegal payday loans to New York consumers; and (ii) identify payday lenders that engage in potentially illegal payday loan transactions with its New York consumer account holders, and, when appropriate, contact the lenders’ banks to notify them that the transactions may be illegal. The bank also agreed to provide DFS with information about payday lending activities by lenders listed in the database, including identifying lenders that continue to engage in potentially illegal lending activities despite the DFS’s previous actions. The database announcement is just the latest step taken by the DFS with regarding to online payday lending. Over the past year, the DFS has opened numerous investigations of online lenders and has scrutinized or sought to pressure debt collectors, payment system operators, and lead generators in an attempt to halt lending practices that the DFS claims violate state licensing requirements and usury restrictions.