Duckworth Applauds Rule to Better Protect Service Members from Financial Abuse
Statement
This week, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) applauded the release of a final updated Military Lending Act rule that closes harmful financial protection loopholes to prevent predatory lenders from taking advantage of troops and their families. Duckworth has been a leader in calling for the Department to make these changes to the law. When language delaying the proposed rule was initially put in the NDAA, she introduced an amendment that removed the language and ensured protections for Servicemembers from predatory lending would go forward without delay. The amendment passed the Armed Services Committee 32-30.
Previous protections under the Military Lending Act applied to only narrowly defined types of products. Unfortunately lenders quickly found the loopholes in the regulation and escaped accountability by offering loans with terms that were a day longer, or a dollar greater than loans covered by the rules. Bad actors continued to charge triple digit interest rates and to exploit the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our country. The new rule will apply market-wide to all high-cost credit products that target service members.
"This is a tremendous step forward to protect our Servicemembers from financial predators," said Duckworth. "Those who work every day to defend our nation deserve the strongest protections our government can provide and this will rule will prove just that."
The announcement on the new rule came on the 5th anniversary of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Earlier this month, Duckworth also introduced the Military Consumer Protection Act, which would empower the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was created by Dodd-Frank, to defend our Servicemembers from financial predators.
"5 years after the passage of Dodd-Frank, it's critical that we continue the work to protect Servicemembers and all Americans from financial predators."
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