Shortly after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began preparing what would become the first significant federal regulations for the multibillion-dollar payday-lending industry, Hilary Miller went to work, the Washington Post reported. Miller, an attorney who has worked closely with the industry for more than a decade, contacted a Georgia professor with a proposal: Would she like to test one of the chief criticisms of the industry, that its customers are harmed by repeatedly taking out loans? Over the next year, Miller worked closely with Jennifer Lewis Priestley, a professor of statistics and data science at Kennesaw State University, suggesting research to cite, the type of data to use and even lecturing her on proofreading. Priestley’s report ultimately concluded that taking out repeated loans didn’t harm borrowers, and, according to the emails, Miller discussed the results with a CFPB economist. It’s unclear how it factored into bureau decisions, but it has been repeatedly touted by payday lending supporters. The industry had a significant recent win: Earlier this month, the CFPB backed down from sweeping new regulations, potentially saving short-term lenders $10 billion through 2020. The CFPB says that it was not influenced by the industry’s lobbying on the issue. The bureau re-examined all existing evidence, including research supportive and critical of payday lending, and determined they collectively didn’t support the existing rule, said Marisol Garibay, a CFPB spokeswoman.
