U.S. to Curb Payday Lenders. First federal rules are part of CFPB push to protect consumers from risky financial products.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The Obama administration will announce Thursday the federal government’s first move to regulate high-interest, low-dollar “payday loans,” a $38.5 billion market currently left to the states.

The crackdown on the payday industry—largely storefront lenders extending credit to 12 million lower-income households paycheck to paycheck—follows a series of actions by President Barack Obama and his aides to cement a change in the balance of power between consumers and financial institutions during their last year in office.

The payday rule, proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, imposes a complex set of requirements on the payday industry, mandating that lenders assess a borrower’s ability to repay and making it harder for lenders to roll over loans—a practice that often leads to escalating borrowing fees—or to take fees out of a borrower’s bank account.

Is there anything the CFPB can't regulate?