Obama Administration's FY 2017 Budget Proposal Makes Room for Small Dollar Loan Program

CFPB Payday Lending Department of Treasury U.S. Senate U.S. House Obama Predatory Lending

This week, the Obama Administration released the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Proposal. President Obama’s proposed budget for the Department of the Treasury would, through the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, reserve at least $10 million until September 30, 2018 to provide grants for loan loss reserve funds and to provide technical assistance for small dollar loan programs under section 1206 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Small Dollar Loan Program, according to the budget proposal, “will support broader access to safe and affordable financial products and provide an alternative to predatory lending by encouraging CDFIs to establish and maintain small dollar loan programs.” Earlier this year, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), in a letter to the President, requested that the FY 2017 budget proposal prioritize funding for small dollar loan programs, as outlined in Title XII – Improving Access to Mainstream Financial Institutions – of the Dodd-Frank Act.    

On a similar note, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing titled, “Short-term, Small Dollar Lending: The CFPB’s Assault on Access to Credit and Trampling of State and Tribal Sovereignty,” on February 11, which examined the short-term, small dollar credit marketplace. During the hearing, House members expressed concern that the CFPB and other government agencies are “overextending their efforts” in regulating the industry, thus limiting consumers’ access to credit. Per the CFPB’s 2015 Regulatory Agenda, the agency is “in the process of developing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address concerns in markets for payday, auto title, and similar lending products.” This stimulated conversations on how the potential rule would affect consumers and existing state and tribal law. CFPB Acting Deputy Director David Silberman was present at the hearing; Silberman maintained that the CFPB’s regulatory efforts are to ensure that small dollar loans are affordable and that consumers are not “spiraling into continual debt.”