“…choices…access to credit”
February 27, 2010 | Wisconsin, industry | Comments (0)Who can argue with that? From a piece by the Wisconsin Coalition for Consumer Choice:
Last week the Wisconsin State Assembly voted to pass Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 447. This is payday lending regulation that places a cap on the overall loan amount for short term loans, prohibits rollovers, and bans consumers from seeking more than one short term loan at a time.
Proponents of the bill will tell you that this is a consumer protection bill, that it was drafted to protect Wisconsin consumers from an industry’s predatory loan practices. What they don’t tell you is that the bill limits choices and in reality hurts consumers who depend on access to credit via short term loans.
First, at a time when access to funds is already limited, Wisconsin does not need additional regulations restricting individual’s access to personal finances. In a consumer’s time of need, the bill limits the amount consumers can borrow. The amount arbitrarily sets a cap of $600 (including principle and interest) or 35 percent of gross income. This cap establishes Government (not the private sector) in determining who is loan worthy (at what amounts) and who is not. This “big brother” approach to consumers’ private financial decisions is unnecessary and unwanted in Wisconsin’s financial marketplace.
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