The Texas federal district court hearing the lawsuit filed by two trade groups challenging the CFPB’s final payday/auto title/high-rate installment loan rule (Payday Rule) entered an order yesterday that once again continues the stay of the lawsuit and the August 19, 2019 compliance date for both the Payday Rule’s ability-to-repay (ATR) provisions and its payment provisions.  The order directs the parties to file another joint status report by August 2 “informing the court about proceedings related to the Rule and this litigation as the parties deem appropriate.”

The court had entered an order on March 19 continuing both stays and, in that order, directed the parties to file a joint status report by May 17.  The joint status report filed on May 17 stated that that the comment period for the Bureau’s proposals to rescind the Payday Rule’s ATR provisions and to delay the compliance date for the ATR provisions closed on, respectively, May 15 and March 18.  The status report also stated that “the Bureau is continuing to make progress on both rulemakings but has not yet issued a final rule in either rulemaking.”

In its new order continuing both stays, the court references the May 17 joint status report and states that “in reviewing the report, although no party requests that the court lift the stay of litigation or lift the stay of the compliance date, neither does the report include any of the parties’ preferences about continuing or lifting any aspect of the current stays.”

In its Spring 2019 rulemaking agenda published last week, the Bureau stated that it “expects to issue a final rule concerning the compliance date in summer 2019 and a final determination on reconsideration thereafter.”