Activist Raucus in Payday Lending Store

by: Fong

Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 01:36:14 AM MST

Section 1 of HB1351 reads

The general assembly finds and declares that payday lenders are charging more than an average of three hundred percent interest annually and that excessive interest rates can lead Colorado families into a debt trap of repeat borrowing.  The general assembly further finds that responsible small loans are available at interest rates of thirty-six percent annually or less and that Congress has enacted laws capping rates on loans made to military families at thirty-six percent.  Therefore, the general assembly submits to a vote of the people of Colorado the question of whether the maximum authorized interest rate for a payday loan charged to a consumer by a lender should be reduced to a maximum rate of thirty-six percent per year.

The insanely high interest rates (sometimes over 500%) on the loans create both a cycle of poverty and a bubble in the economy. How many of the hideous, free-standing huts that give Colfax ave that shoddy feel from Simms Ave to Chambers Rd are from these sharks? The usual complaints of the bill being a job killer are thrown around like confetti. We can't build an industry that profits off of the already poor so they (we) can sink like a brick and somehow think it's sustainable or excusable because "it's a job-killer". Despite the many signs that contradict, legislators are still human. What kind of human do you want to be (representing you)?  

Word is that Democratic Reps Sue Schafer (HD24), Debbie Benefield (HD29), Jim Reisberg (HD50) are considering a NO vote. Find out for yourself by sending them an email by clicking on their names.