On the campaign trail, President Obama made several promises to help consumers navigate the complex world of the financial services industry. He pledged to create a Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit (HOME) score for mortgage comparisons, establish a credit card bill of rights, and create new financial regulations. He also promised to cap interest rates on payday loans and to improve lender disclosure.

"Payday loans are small-dollar, short-term, unsecured loans that borrowers promise to repay out of their next paycheck or regular income payment," according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "Payday loans are usually priced at a fixed-dollar fee. Because these loans have such short terms to maturity, the cost of borrowing, expressed as an annual percentage rate, can range from 300 percent to 1,000 percent, or more."

The last time we reviewed this promise, we rated it In the Works. Congress was considering legislation to overhaul Wall Street, which included the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The new agency would be responsible for writing new rules on financial consumer products--including payday loans--and enforcing existing bank and credit union regulations.

President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law on July 21, 2010, so we thought it would be a good time to revisit this promise.

Notice that the promise actually includes three separate provisions: capping payday loan interest rates, improving lender disclosure, and supporting initiatives to improve financial literacy. We'll look at all three parts.

Starting with payday loans, the final version of the bill calls for creation of a new consumer protection bureau. The new agency will be a part of the Federal Reserve, and will have a director appointed by the President. The bill specifically states that it will have the authority to impose new regulations on payday lenders.

The bill also creates a new Office of Financial Literacy. There are still a lot of details to hammer out, but it clearly addresses Obama's promise to improve financial literacy among consumers.

Finally, the legislation includes several disclosure provisions. It calls on lenders to "disclose the maximum a consumer could pay on a variable rate mortgage, with a warning that payments will vary based on interest rate changes," according to the bill summary. It also requires the lender to verify that the loan can be repaid.

President Obama promised to cap interest rates on payday loans, improve lender disclosure, and support financial literacy initiatives. He made major progress on all three parts of the promise by signing legislation to overhaul Wall Street in July 2010. There is still much work left to do, however, before this becomes a Promise Kept. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau only exists on paper so far, as does the Office of Financial Literacy. We'll keep watching how things develop over the next several months, but for now, we're keeping this one In the Works.