You can tell a lot about a candidate by the enemies he makes
Jeff Schapiro
Jun 02, 2009
Terry McAuliffe, running for the Democratic nomination for governor, wants to run payday lenders out of Virginia.
Not so fast, says the high-cost, instant-loan industry.
The Community Financial Services Association, a trade group for the nation’s biggest payday lenders, is using its blog, http://www.paydaypundit.org, to mobilize its troops against McAuliffe.
McAuliffe, in Richmond today for a meet-and-greet with more than 40 staffers and volunteers, hinted that lenders have offered to contribute money to his campaign, but that he’s not interested.
“The audacity of these people,“ said McAuliffe.
McAuliffe wants to give the boot to car-title lenders, too. His beef with the fringe-credit business: That it profits at the expense of the poor and uneducated.
Payday and car-title lenders counter that they’re offering a service for which there is a demand, particularly from people who can’t get credit.
Virginia has been a battleground for payday lenders for several years. The lenders have been in the state since 2002—when a Democratic governor, Mark Warner, signed legislation approved by a Republican-controlled General Assembly—and this year have been hit by recession and new regulations.
They’ve combined to drive down the number of money stores in the state by about 20 percent. But lenders are finding a way around the latest restrictions, offering other loans that can be more lucrative because they carry higher fees.
In the Dermocratic primary, McAuliffe has used the issue to lure support from those often seen at payday shops: urban blacks and blue-collar workers.
McAuliffe also reminds voters that his opponents on June 9, Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds, voted to open the state to payday lenders and accepted contributions from them.
Instead of abolishing them, let’s just reinstate our usury limits that used to cap the interest on lending until we started giving exceptions to payday and car title lenders. That means a 36% APR interest rate cap. If you can’t make money lending at 36% interest you have a flawed business that can only make money by exploitation.
Payday lending is much worse than you think. Watch this video and learn from former payday loan employees how they trap borrowers into long-term debt and take their income and their dignity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVnUtkRYItQ
And you thought debt bondage was a thing of the past.
Jun. 3, 2009 at 08:23 AM
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