The historically more conscientious, deliberative Senate must rescue consumers from a flimsy payday lending bill hastily passed by the House that would solidify payday lenders\u2019 grip on our state.<\/p>\n
The House bill would do nothing to stop payday lenders from making repeated loans to borrowers at triple-digit interest rates. It\u2019s up to senators to push for strong protections that help keep consumers from drowning in a long-term cycle of debt.<\/p>\n
The best remedy is to ban payday lending, but many lawmakers oppose that. Fine: Then regulate the industry tightly so it does what it continually alleges is its aim \u201d\u201d to provide short-term, emergency loans. That shouldn\u2019t be hard for the Senate. It passed strong legislation last session to do just that, only to have Speaker Bobby Harrell, who authored the industry-friendly legislation the House passed last week, sabotage it.
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The House\u2019s payday lender-friendly bill would limit the number of loans a consumer can get to one at a time and require a database be used to enforce the limit. But it also would double the maximum amount of a loan, from $300 to $600.<\/p>\n