Keep competition in short-term credit
May 6, 2009 | federal legislation, industry, positive media coverage | Comments (0)From Michael Flores in The Hill (a Capitol Hill newspaper) today:
The 36 percent APR cap proposed by Sen. Durbin and Rep. Speier would leave some of these products banned (payday loans), some advantaged (bounced check fees) and some untouched (some installment loans). That’s because the shorter the length of the loan term, the higher the theoretical annual percentage rate, even if the actual costs are the same.
The Gutierrez bill has some good disclosure language, but it sets payday lending fees at $15 per $100 loaned. It sounds reasonable but why shouldn’t an industry be able to raise prices as costs — rent, salaries, taxes — go up?
The goal of any federal legislation should be to ensure that consumers have choice, the market has competition and that there’s enough transparency of all products so that cost comparisons are easy to make. Arbitrary rate caps simply pick winners and losers.
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