Skip to main content

Payday loan protections

The CFPB’s rule prevents lenders from attempting to collect payments from people’s bank accounts in ways that may rack up excessive fees or deviate from what they expect.

These protections will apply to short-term loans including payday loans and vehicle title loans, as well as certain longer-term balloon-payment and high-cost installment loans.

Note: The CFPB has revoked the mandatory underwriting provisions in this rule.

Information for financial service providers

The Bureau provides support and resources to help financial service providers understand and comply with the rule.

Visit the payday lending rule implementation page

Read the final rule and amendments

Key milestones

Date Milestone

Apr 24, 2013

CFPB issued a white paper entitled Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products.

Nov 2013

CFPB began accepting complaints from borrowers encountering problems with payday loans.

Mar 25, 2014

CFPB issued a report entitled CFPB Data Point: Payday Lending.

Mar 26, 2015

CFPB announced an outline of a proposal entitled Small Business Advisory Review Panel for Potential Rulemakings for Payday, Vehicle Title, and Similar Loans.

Apr 29, 2015

CFPB convened a Small Business Review Panel to meet with small entity representatives that would be subject to the rule.

Jun 25, 2015

The final report of the Small Business Review Panel on CFPB’s Rulemaking on Payday, Vehicle Title, and Similar Loans was published.

Apr 20, 2016

CFPB issued a report entitled Online Payday Loan Payments.

May 18, 2016

CFPB issued a report entitled Single-Payment Vehicle Title Lending.

Jun 2, 2016

CFPB issued a report entitled Supplemental findings on payday, payday installment, and vehicle title loans, and deposit advance products.

Jun 2, 2016

CFPB issued a Request for Information on Payday Loans, Vehicle Title Loans, Installment Loans, and Open-End Lines of Credit.

Jun 2, 2016

CFPB issued a proposed rule entitled Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans. The CFPB also invited public comment on that proposal.

Oct 5, 2017

CFPB issued a final rule entitled Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans.

Feb 6, 2019

CFPB issued proposed rules to rescind the mandatory underwriting provisions of the 2017 final rule and to delay the August 19, 2019 compliance date for those provisions to November 19, 2020.  The CFPB invited public comment on both proposals.

Jun 6, 2019

CFPB issued a final rule to delay the compliance date for the mandatory underwriting provisions of the 2017 final rule to November 19, 2020. 

July 7, 2020

CFPB issued a final rule to revoke the mandatory underwriting provisions of the 2017 final rule.