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By Molly C. Herndon

July 15 is Military Consumer Protection Day and during the month of July a number of organizations are hosting events geared towards providing Military families with resources to prevent consumer fraud.

In this vein, the MiPayday Loans Neon Sign image by Jasonlitary Families Learning Network’s Personal Finance team will present a webinar on Predatory Lending Practices on Tuesday, July 28 at 11 a.m. ET. Speakers Dr. Barbara O’Neill and Marcus Beauregard will present a 90 minute webinar that will focus on the practices and schemes associated with predatory lending, as well as tips for educators and practitioners to share with clients to help them avoid becoming victims of these practices.

Of particular importance, this webinar will focus on the Regulation (32 CFR Part 232), which implements the Military Lending Act (MLA), which has been going through a significant revision so that the limitations in the MLA are effectively applied to credit available to Service members and their families.

We are excited for the expertise co-speaker, Marcus Beauregard will bring to this presentation.  Mr. Beauregard, Colonel, USAF (Retired) is the Chief of the DoD-State Liaison Office (DSLO) within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy.  Together with a Senior Liaison and 8 Regional Liaisons, he works with state governments on a slate of key issues important to Service members and their families.  Additionally, he is one of two individuals responsible for the Military Lending Act and updating the DoD regulation required to implement the law.  He spent 27  years in the U.S. Air Force, having assignments as a SquadronCommander, the Director of Financial Management for Air Force Services and the Director of Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He retired in July 2003 and continued to work as a contract employee from August 2003 to April 2010, at which time he became a civil service employee.  Mr. Beauregard developed the Financial Readiness Campaign in 2003, while on active duty as the Director of MWR Policy.  Following his retirement, he continued to work on financial readiness for DoD and helped establish the DSLO. In 2006, he was given the responsibility to oversee the implementation of the Military Lending Act.

Dr. O’Neill will present the first hour of this webinar, which will focus on the definition of predatory lending and characteristics of predatory loans, as well as descriptions of several common types of high-cost loans including payday, car title, and pawn shop loans and other forms of subprime lending. Mr. Beauregard will tackle the impact of predatory loans on military families and regulations in place to protect against fraud during the final 30 minutes of the webinar.
So, save the date of Tuesday, July 28 at 11 a.m. ET to join this exciting webinar. More information and details on how to join are available here.