Durbin bill & pawnbrokers
April 1, 2009 | alternatives, federal legislation, industry, regulation | Comments (1)From a local NBC station in Ohio:
The Senate Bill, which is called the Protecting Consumers From Unreasonable Credit Rates Act of 2009, would limit that number to only 36 percent.
“It would be cost prohibitive. We could not continue to stay in business, which could result in, essentially, the loss of thousands of dollars, thousands of jobs, thousands of businesses closing,” said Lou Tansky, of the Ohio Pawnbrokers Association.
The Ohio Pawnbrokers Association said a pawn shop’s overhead is pretty high because they’re holding physical possessions, training employees to appraise the merchandise and writing contracts.
Yes, the Durbin bill kills the short-term credit market. But it’s good for banks as bounced check fees are not included.
Comments»
I live in Missouri. It sickens me that our laws allow pawnshops to legally fence stolen items. The victim is twice robbed here. They lose their property when the thief steals it. Then they lose their money when they are forced to buy the property back from the pawn shop or forfeit it. If a person cannot afford to pay the pawn shop, their property becomes the property of the pawn shop. We need a state-wide list of offenders who have pawned stolen merchandise. If it is done a second time, the pawn shop should be liable for accepting anything from a person on the list. Many of our drug users are financing their habits by fencing stolen merchandise at the pawn shops. This is a travesty for honest citizens who are twice victimized. I am going to fight the legislation that allows this. I do wonder if this fight will endanger my life. Pawnbrokers are one of the largest groups of lobbiest in Missouri, vying with the liquor industry for first place!