Protecting Consumers by Stopping Online Lenders from Evading State Laws

Join CoPIRG and state and national partners, on Thursday, October 19 at 9am MST for a webinar exploring Colorado’s recent legislative victory against high-cost lenders who use Rent-A-Bank arrangements to skirt Colorado interest rates. 

Keynote remarks will be delivered by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. 

Rent-A-Bank schemes were made possible by the federal Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA or DIDA), which in recent years has been exploited by high-cost on-line lenders that use arrangements with banks chartered in other states and charge Colorado borrowers interest rates far in excess of what is legal under Colorado law. 

In 2023, Colorado made it clear – lenders must comply with Colorado law, regardless of where they are located, when making on-line loans to Coloradans. The passage of Colorado’s House Bill 23-1229 exercised Colorado’s right under DIDMCA to stop lenders from evading Colorado law, joining Iowa and Puerto Rico in closing the rent-a-bank loophole. 

Come learn about the significance of this victory for consumers from a panel of experts including some of the top consumer advocates involved in Colorado’s bill, CoPIRG and the Center for Responsible Lending, Jessica Whitney (Deputy Attorney General for the State of Minnesota and former Administrator of the Iowa Consumer Credit Code), and the legislative sponsors of Colorado’s reform.