“Keep consumer credit options open”
January 13, 2010 | Arizona, industry, positive media coverage, states | Comments (0)Great piece in the Arizona Republic by a diverse group of authors from the middle, left & right: Grant Woods, attorney and former Arizona attorney general; Luis Ibarra, president and CEO of Friendly House, a social service agency; and, Steve Voeller, president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. The whole piece is a great read but here’s a couple of my favorite paragraphs:
Short-term loans are not for everyone, but every day in Arizona, thousands of hardworking people use short-term consumer-finance options to meet unexpected financial challenges and pay bills, buy groceries or gas, or to avoid more expensive bounced-check fees, overdraft fees and late-bill-payment penalties. Allowing the industry to sunset will exacerbate short-term consumer credit problems by pushing consumers into even less-desirable credit products, including off-shore online loans and neighborhood loan sharking. Eliminating the product does not eliminate the demand.
Does the industry need some reforms? Yes. New consumer protections that address the cycle of debt that too many people fall into are improvements to last year’s failed initiative.
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