The hearing entitled “The Reemergence of Rent-a-Bank?” took place virtually on Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes, III, social justice advocate and senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church, a megachurch known nationally for its social justice ministry, recently testified before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, at the hearing, entitled, “The Reemergence of Rent-a-Bank?” The event was held virtually and can be viewed on the Senate Committee’s website.
The complete list of witnesses who testified included, The Honorable Josh Stein, Attorney General, State of North Carolina; Ms. Lisa Stifler, Director of State Policy, Center for Responsible Lending; Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, Senior Pastor, Friendship-West Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas; Mr. Brian Brooks, Former Acting Comptroller of the Currency; and Dr. Charles Calomiris, Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, Columbia Business School.
Dr. Haynes’ testimony opposed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s plan to enable predatory lenders to ignore state interest rate caps by paying a bank willing to masquerade as the “true lender” and appealed to the committee to pass a cap of 36%.
“One of my congregants, a recent college graduate, worked two jobs to make ends meet. When his mother became sick, he had to choose between paying his car loan and her medication and utilities,” said Dr. Haynes. “He took out a payday loan believing it would help him get through the crunch, but an interest rate of 450% set him up to bring him down financially, and he ended up losing the car he needed to get to work.”
Dr. Haynes went on to add that predatory payday, car title lender and installment lenders rob financially vulnerable people of billions in fees every year.
Dr. Haynes closed by noting that he offered his testimony coupled with letters from other faith organizations, including the Faith for Just Lending Coalition and the Faith & Credit Roundtable calling for a repeal of the OCC’s rule.
You can find Dr. Haynes’ full testimony here.
