Payday Pundit

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that “200isNoReform.com” is now “Arizonians for Responsible Lending,” yet another branch of the Center for Responsible Lending and is working to strip Arizonians of their financial choices by capping payday lending at a 36% annual interest rate. The Payday Pundit has said it once and will probably have to say […]

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So many employees of the payday lending industry in Ohio fought hard for their jobs and for their customers.  Everyone of you has more sense and smarts than the legislators who voted to kill the industry in the state.    This letter in the Youngstown Vindicator is typical of the many letters to the editors, emails to legislators […]

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This article gives a good update on the status of legislation in Ohio.  Key passage:
It’s the Senate committee’s third hearing on the issue, with a fourth hearing on the schedule for Wednesday afternoon but no testimony scheduled.
The House bill included not only the interest cap but also a limit of four payday loans per year […]

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At a conference held today in Washington, D.C., a report including reccomendations for addressing the “culture of debt” was released.
CFSA President D. Lynn DeVault had this to say in a press release:
“While the intentions are good, the recommendations in the report demonstrate the complexity of small-dollar, short-term credit offerings and their costs.  So-called ‘solutions’ such […]

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When asked if the Columbus, Ohio station’s viewers support the efforts,  a total of 1,095 people voted. 
Of those, 49% (546) voted “no” to restrict interest rates; 48% (530) voted “yes” to restrict;  and 1% (19) were undecided.

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So begins the headline of this story out of Ohio:
Business owners like Phyllis Riccadonna, who runs America Check Exchange in Steubenville, are fighting back against the caps, saying it will kill them.
“It shuts everybody down,” said Riccadonna. “They’ll be 7,000 employees out of work, and they’ll be 1, 600 stores in Ohio empty.”
The Payday Pundit […]

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Wallet Pop’s newest post details the state of the industry today.
He notes that in Oregon, a 36% annual cap was put on the payday lending industry, and 80% of the stores closed up and went out of business.
Payday Pundit especially likes the first comment posted in response, “I enjoy seeing states tighten credit in the middle of […]

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Interesting discussion on a the Volokh Conspiracy blog prompted by a column, “In Defense of Usury” in the Wall Street Journal by Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman. 

Several of the commenters raised the challenge that nothwithstanding the authors’ conclusions, very high interest rates are still “immoral” and should be banned. But I don’t really follow the logic of the […]

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