After a week’s delay, the ban on predatory lending ads for AdWords advertisers is beginning to roll out.
In May, Google announced that ads promoting payday loans that require repayment within 60 days and loans with interest rates above 35 percent would no longer be accepted or displayed starting July 13. Yet many people have noticed that payday loans are still showing up in Google search results, a week after the ban was supposed to start.
Google’s execution of the ban was delayed, but it is now rolling out. The company posted an update to the ad policies in the AdWords help center covering personal loans, high-APR (annual percentage rate) and personal loans on Wednesday afternoon. Note, the policy on high-APR personal loans affects US advertisers only. The policy for short-term personal loans is global.
The policy includes the following reasons for ad disapproval:
Payday loans: “Personal loans which require repayment in full in 60 days or less from the date the loan is issued (we refer to these as ‘Short-term personal loans’). This policy applies to advertisers who offer loans directly, lead generators, and those who connect consumers with third-party lenders.”
High interest loans: “In the United States, we do not allow ads for personal loans where the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is 36% or higher. Advertisers for personal loans in the United States must display their maximum APR, calculated consistently with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA).”
New ads for payday and high-interest loans are no longer being accepted, and Google will be removing existing ads from the system over the next several weeks. That process will take some time, as it’s likely Google will have to manually check the loan terms listed on advertiser websites before deciding whether to disapprove ads.
