Democrats Are Supposed To Be For "The Little Guy". In Kentucky, That CHARADE ENDS When It Comes To Payday Lending. Read More Below.
Payday retreat
State Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, chairman of the House Banking and Industry Committee, has decided to put off until next year a full hearing on a bill that would cap at 36 percent the annual interest rate that payday lenders can charge their non-military customers in Kentucky.
This is an unfortunate development. It means that for at least another year, and likely longer, payday lenders can persist in gouging their typical clients: low-income individuals, usually with poor credit and desperate for cash.
Payday lenders boast that they perform a valuable service. They ask who else will lend to those people. Since they do, they argue, they're entitled to realize a profit. Point taken, but House Bill 381, sponsored by Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, doesn't propose to strip them of their profits, only to limit their allowable interest on loans to 36 percent annually. Payday lenders' critics contend that charges for the short-term cash loans can amount to annual interest rates of as much as 400 percent.
But Rep. Greer said he will put off further consideration of HB 381 until next year in order, he said, to give the state's new, yet-to-be installed electronic system to monitor the payday lending industry time to work. “We don't want to go into this blind,” Rep. Greer said.
That smacks much more strongly of delay than real study. As consumer advocate Rich Seckel correctly said, “The database doesn't lower the cost of the loans and the frequency of the loans.”
So rather than confront its sometimes predatory ways, the payday lending lobby, with Rep Greer's assistance, has succeeded in changing the subject. The database, as payday lenders gushed, will give Kentucky “the tool it needs to enforce existing state law.”
The whole point of HB 381, however, is tochange the law — so that Kentuckians who rely on payday loans cannot be as ruthlessly exploited as they are now.
Editor's comment: Speaker Greg Stumbo needs to use his power to override Rep. Greer's stupid move and bring this bill up for a House vote.
State Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, chairman of the House Banking and Industry Committee, has decided to put off until next year a full hearing on a bill that would cap at 36 percent the annual interest rate that payday lenders can charge their non-military customers in Kentucky.
This is an unfortunate development. It means that for at least another year, and likely longer, payday lenders can persist in gouging their typical clients: low-income individuals, usually with poor credit and desperate for cash.
Payday lenders boast that they perform a valuable service. They ask who else will lend to those people. Since they do, they argue, they're entitled to realize a profit. Point taken, but House Bill 381, sponsored by Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, doesn't propose to strip them of their profits, only to limit their allowable interest on loans to 36 percent annually. Payday lenders' critics contend that charges for the short-term cash loans can amount to annual interest rates of as much as 400 percent.
But Rep. Greer said he will put off further consideration of HB 381 until next year in order, he said, to give the state's new, yet-to-be installed electronic system to monitor the payday lending industry time to work. “We don't want to go into this blind,” Rep. Greer said.
That smacks much more strongly of delay than real study. As consumer advocate Rich Seckel correctly said, “The database doesn't lower the cost of the loans and the frequency of the loans.”
So rather than confront its sometimes predatory ways, the payday lending lobby, with Rep Greer's assistance, has succeeded in changing the subject. The database, as payday lenders gushed, will give Kentucky “the tool it needs to enforce existing state law.”
The whole point of HB 381, however, is tochange the law — so that Kentuckians who rely on payday loans cannot be as ruthlessly exploited as they are now.
Editor's comment: Speaker Greg Stumbo needs to use his power to override Rep. Greer's stupid move and bring this bill up for a House vote.
Labels: Democratism, Keeping them honest, Kentucky politics
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 7:17 AM
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