Originally published at dcjournal.com on June 25, 2026.
Regulators and special-interest groups have spent years trying to rebrand bank-fintech partnerships as “rent-a-bank” schemes. The phrase is designed to do all the work: the partnership must be a ruse, the lender a fraud, the borrowers victims, and the state the rescuer.
Last month, that movement received a rebuke from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gary D. Roberts. He rejected the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s attempt to cut off credit to consumers and punish Opportunity Financial, better known as OppFi, for loans originated by its partner, Utah-based FinWise Bank. The state argued that consumers shouldn’t receive loans from OppFi because OppFi, not FinWise, was the “true lender” and thus subject to California’s interest rate caps, which preserve loans for people with high incomes and high credit scores. The court disagreed.
