The OCCC is required by law to track complaints and enforcement actions against Credit Access Businesses (CABs). Complaints against CABs are the lowest among all businesses regulated by the OCCC – one per every 21,000 transactions.This is a manufactured crisis created by politicians, liberal activists, and the mainstream media intent on eliminating private sector credit options for underbanked Texans.

The reality is most private sector, short-term credit providers charge $15 to $20 per $100 borrowed. You would have to roll over and refinance your loan 26 times to reach an annual percentage rate of 400 percent. In reality, 71% of single payment loans are paid when due or refinanced once, while 92% of multiple payment loans are paid when due.

These are scare tactics designed to confuse the general public who have no need for these loans.

The OCCC requires that a CAB provide a disclosure before and after the loan that outlines repayment statistics, costs for other forms of credit, and the OCCC consumer complaint hotline. According to the OCCC, a majority of short-term lending customers pay their loans off as scheduled.

The OCCC tracks all short-term loans originated in Texas. According to the OCCC a majority of short-term lending customers pay off their loans as scheduled. It is a statistical outlier when a consumer rolls over their loans more than 6-7 times.

Public financial data shows the average Starbucks makes more than six times the profits of the average short-term lender. Wells Fargo, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, and PNC have net profit margins above 24%. Comparatively, the top three publicly traded short-term lending companies have single digit returns on investment.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, when Georgia and North Carolina banned short-term loans, households bounced more checks (over 1000 percent APR), complained more to the Federal Trade Commission about lenders and debt collectors, and filed for Chapter Seven bankruptcy protection at a much higher rate than those states without restrictions.¹

After Austin and Dallas passed municipal ordinances, storefront lending decreased around 13%, but more expensive online short-term lending increased 19%. ²  According to the OCCC, municipal ordinances did nothing to reduce the demand or costs of credit throughout Texas.

¹ “Payday Holiday: How Households Fare after Payday Credit Bans" – February 2008
² Data provided by the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner

The community loan center program concentrated in South and East Texas has struggled to loan $38 million in five years.

The reality is socialist activists like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would prefer that the government provide tax payer subsidized short-term lending through the U.S. Postal Service rather than private sector credit options.