2:24 pm ET
Aug 26, 2013


GOP Lawmakers: Government ‘Intimidating’ Online Lenders

    • “We strongly encourage your agencies to immediately stop any actions designed to pressure banks and payment processors to terminate business relationships with lawful lenders.”

      Isn't the point that some online lenders are illegal as they make loans higher than state law allows and claim sovergnty to ge around this. Problem is, they can't sue to enforce the debt in state court, so everyone that took a loan should optimally just shut down their bank accounts and quit paying it back.

    • Anonymous,

      The key word in your post is "some".

    • Stop complaining about him Republicans and do something about his administrations illegal activities.

    • The real issue here is not wheter or not the online lenders are legal or illegal it's the Obama Administration once again using regulatory actions to circumvent the legislative process. what's next, Is he going to use this tool to attack political foes? Will it become a fund raising tool so buisness can continue to operate by paying money? In reality, most online lenders are legally operating businesses. I don't use their services but millions of others do who can't get qualified for a credit card or other short term loans. Much of this activity has increased since banks were no longer allowed to charge unlimited overdraft fees which if you calculate what the real interest rate was on those fee's, it was many times the rate these online lenders charge. Most banks won't lend you 500 bucks for two weeks. The cost of doing that loan exceeds what interest they can charge by a wide margin. With msot of these online lenders currently shut down, look for crime rates to begin to soar. In reality, the biggest users of this product are poor people and they will resort to other means to obtain cash, regardless of the cost. Obama should be ashamed of what he has done to his beloved "middle class".

    • Anonymous says to close your checking account and don't pay back loans. Really? Is there no personal responsibility anymore? Anonymous, maybe your employer should just stop paying you, even though you put in 40 hours of hard work in good faith that you would be paid a set wage! People, wake up and see what's happening to this country. We are turning it into a 3rd world country, ruled by a dictator, and whose press is so controlled, that issues like this are rarely spoken of on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNBC, MSNBC, nor most newspapers. We have 16 trillion in debt. Should we just quit paying on that too anonymous? How about we stop paying unemployment, social security, welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps too because we know people are scamming those programs? It is insulting when people fail to take personal responsibility for their actions and expect everyone else to bail them out for thier known misdeeds. People wake up, if you spend within your means you won't need to borrow money. However if you have an emergency and need 500 dollars til payday then thank goodness you had this avenue in the past, than putting on a mask and going down to rob a 7-11 or liquor store.

    • Dear Alan, The idea of government officials of “intimidating” banks and electronic payment processors into to ceasing doing business with some online lenders--is laughable! Do you and Senator Luetkemeyer really want the real people to be concerned about the welfare of those poor, frightened "too big to fail corporate" people. Just a thought--you might want to think that one over before you write your next column.

      Responsible Capitalism--The way the financial industry works in the US has nothing to do with responsibility or capitalism. Large financial institutions/banks are paying tiny interest rates and charging hefty rates (when they lend at all to small businesses) especially through their credit card divisions. Credit card companies are given the freedom to raise rates for reasons even unrelated to risk—charging rates as high as 36% in the US with Brazil topping the list at 240% according to Wikipedia. Then you have “people” serving in Congress who (thanks to the Supreme Court’s recent decision defining corporations as “people”) now have lobbyists for multi-billion dollar international corporations/“people” looming over them with huge checkbooks--threatening to fund their next opponents campaign--if they do not vote for laws that favor their interest—over the interests of small businesses and the even smaller citizen who laughingly thinks her or his vote still matters. Add to that the huge marketing dollars behind political spin doctors like Karl Rove & James Carville and you see people flocking to the voting booth voting against their own interest and for the latest ‘sound bite’ that has been running continuously. If you think Americans are still running America—take a look at the:
      • 30 “American based companies” that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average—and go one step further to find out what countries generate the most revenue (and employees) for each of them.
      • 50 largest financial institutions/banks in the world. There are only 4 American companies in the list—and the first one shows up at 8th from the top.
      Yes, I am sure the FDIC and the Dept. of Justice have them quaking in the boots. Really??

    • Maybe Mr. Obama's henchman will target insurance and oil companies next? Just pressure the banks to stop processing they're payments! Walking a dangerous line. All Online lenders are presumed to be guilty of fraud? What federal law are they breaking if they are operating legitimate? They are all being penalized by FDIC and DOJ by being denied access to banking. This directly contradicts the U.S. Constitution. If the legislative process doesn't go your way, then back door them with regulators? This is much bigger than online lending!

    • You have only half the story if that much. My wife works for a small business that gives small loans (500 or less) to employess of companies that they have contracted with to offer this benefit to. This liberal governments decision is crippling the small business she works for. They do a legitimate business that is getting screwed by Obuma and your liberal idiot counterparts. What you are referring to in your comment comes down to a lack of personal responsibility of the individual who gets charged these fees. Know what you are getting into before you do it. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, I know it's hard to grasp for you liberal idiots.

    • Why does the government not go after those that have been proven to be unlawful running their online lending. Instead they screw all business and cost jobs of hard working Americans. These American jobs are currently being shipped to Canada. FACT!!!!!

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