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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

District Court denies delay on payday lending compliance

Courts CFPB Payday Lending Payday Rule Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Appellate Fifth Circuit

Courts

On September 30, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied a request made by two trade groups to stay the implementation of the payment provisions of the CFPB’s 2017 final rule covering “Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans” (2017 Rule) while they appeal an earlier decision allowing the provisions to take effect. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the court upheld the 2017 Rule’s payment provisions, finding that the Bureau’s ratification “was valid and cured the constitutional injury caused by the 2017 Rule’s approval by an improperly appointed official.” The court also concluded that the payment provisions, as a matter of law, “are consistent with the Bureau’s statutory authority and are not arbitrary and capricious,” and that the Bureau properly considered the costs and benefits of such payment provisions. The court’s order, however, granted the plaintiffs’ request to stay the compliance date, which had been set as August 19, 2019, until 286 days after final judgment.

The plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and asked the district court to stay the running of the 286-day stay pending appeal, such that compliance would not be required until 286 days after the appeal is resolved. The court rejected that request, stating that the plaintiffs “failed to make a sufficient showing to warrant a stay pending resolution of the appeal” and that “the equities do not support extending the stay of the compliance date beyond the court's 286-day stay from August 30, 2021.”