On September 3, 2020, the Ca Department of company Oversight (DBO) announced it has launched an official investigation into whether Wheels Financial Group, LLC d/b/a LoanMart, previously certainly one of California’s biggest state-licensed car title loan providers, “is evading California’s newly-enacted rate of interest caps through its recent partnership having an out-of-state bank.” In conjunction with the California legislature’s passage through of AB-1864, that may provide the DBO (become renamed the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation) brand new supervisory authority over particular formerly unregulated providers of customer financial solutions, the DBO’s statement is an unsurprising but nevertheless threatening development for bank/nonbank partnerships in Ca and through the nation.
The Fair Access to Credit Act (FACA), which, effective January 1, 2020, limits the interest rate that can be charged on loans of $2,500 to $10,000 by lenders licensed under the California Financing Law (CFL) to 36% plus the federal funds rate in 2019, California enacted AB-539. [Read more…]