Trillium Statement on Fifth Third Bank’s Announcement Regarding the Phasing Out of ‘Early Access’ Deposit Advance Service
January 28, 2014: Fifth Third Bank (NASDAQ: FITB) recently announced that it will no longer enroll customers in its ‘Early Access’ deposit advance service after January 31, 2014 and the bank will phase out the service to existing customers by year-end. This announcement comes following ongoing pressure from Trillium Asset Management (Trillium), along with other investors and the Center for Responsible Lending. In 2012 Trillium filed a shareholder proposal, with the bank asking it to address “the adequacy of the company’s direct deposit advance lending policies in addressing the social and financial impacts” of “extending high-cost direct deposit advances …
Trillium Asks Regulators to Stop Banks from Making Payday Loans
Trillium Asset Management, along with 250 national, state and local organizations and individuals, has recently sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, The Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency asking the regulators to stop banks from making predatory payday loans, which can carry annual interest rates of nearly 400%. The letter focuses on deposit “advance” loans which banks structure like loans from payday lenders. These loans are high-cost and have a short-term balloon repayment, trapping low-wealth and low-income borrowers in a cycle of expensive and increasing debt, causing serious financial …
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