On a split decision, council did not include a proposal for additional restrictions on payday lending, which is often criticized as predatory.

Council had supported previous efforts to clamp down on that industry in 2008, but this year a majority concluded it was an unnecessary addition that would water down their agenda.

On Tuesday night, the Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution asking that Gov. Bob McDonnell and the General Assembly, at its next legislative session, consider implementing regulations that will cease such inordinate practices, particularly those that could exploit citizens called to serve in the armed forces.

Warren County officials are joining other localities in asking state legislators to enact strict laws that will prohibit predatory lending practices in Virginia.

Obviously, the industry’s critics are conducting a campaign in the state.  Local city officials don’t wake up and do these resolutions without pressure from advocacy groups.

Officials want state lawmakers to enact stricter regulations over what they consider predatory lending. Henry County passed a similar resolution in September.

Now, Martinsville City Council Officials are expected to vote on the issue Tuesday evening.

The days of unchecked interest rates on never-ending car title loans are coming to an end in Virginia.

Beginning this past Friday, a new law takes effect that for the first time will regulate the lenders, limiting how much they can charge and lend, and for how long. Borrowers still could lose their vehicles if they fall behind on payments, but the new law will require lenders to tell them up front exactly how much it will take to repay the loan.

Advocates who fought for years for much stricter requirements are disappointed that lenders still will be allowed to charge triple-digit annual interest rates, but said they are pleased that the industry will fall under the eye of the State Corporation Commission.

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So far, 15 companies have applied for licenses to operate about 260 offices across Virginia, said SCC spokesman Ken Schrad.

Because they were unregulated, nobody knows how many car title lenders are operating in Virginia. Car title lenders operate in 21 states, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

The Henry County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposed resolution that calls for state legislators to impose stricter guidelines on payday lending institutions.

 The proposed resolution urges state legislators to enact laws during the 2011 General Assembly session that would strictly prohibit and deter predatory lending practices, including imposing an annual 36 percent interest rate cap for any consumer credit extended in Virginia.

I remember when city councils worried about funding the fire department and putting up traffic lights.

Ryan Harris, a spokesman for Cleveland, Tenn.-based Check Into Cash, which has a branch in Front Royal, said that his company does not offer payday lending in Virginia, but added that putting a 36 percent cap on short-term loans is unrealistic.

“[On an] annualized percentage basis, there’s just no way that anybody can offer the small, short-term loan on 36 [percent] interest,” Harris said. “That’s pretty much the long and short of it. That 36 percent, that’s just a truly unfair way to gauge a small-term loan.”

Rocky Mount Town Council has joined a lobbying effort by more than 50 other localities, consumer groups, advocacy organizations and churches in Virginia to urge the General Assembly to prohibit predatory lending in the state.

 Rocky Mount was asked by Bruce Elder, a member of Staunton City Council, to join the other localities in urging Gov. Bob McDonnell and the General Assembly to put an end to payday lending.

 In a letter to all counties, cities and towns in Virginia, Elder said that three years ago, Staunton and more than 50 localities asked that protection against predatory lending granted by the federal government to military personnel and their families be extended to residents of the state. 

Rocky Mount Town Council has joined a lobbying effort by more than 50 other localities, consumer groups, advocacy organizations and churches in Virginia to urge the General Assembly to prohibit predatory lending in the state.

Rocky Mount was asked by Bruce Elder, a member of Staunton City Council, to join the other localities in urging Gov. Bob McDonnell and the General Assembly to put an end to payday lending.

In a letter to all counties, cities and towns in Virginia, Elder said that three years ago, Staunton and more than 50 localities asked that protection against predatory lending granted by the federal government to military personnel and their families be extended to residents of the state.

Banning industries, reducing access to credit, and destroying jobs is now “protection.”

A dozen localities have adopted resolutions calling for the state to block what the resolution calls “predatory, usurious lending practices” by imposing an interest rate cap of 36 percent, calculated as an effective annual percentage rate, that includes fees and charges that payday lenders require. On May 27, Staunton City Council first adopted the resolution and then sent letters to other towns, counties and cities in the state asking them to consider doing the same.

Virginia used to be a very free-market, libertarian state.