S.F. gets into payday lending
December 18, 2009 | California, alternatives, industry | Comments (0)A new payday loan “alternative” announced yesterday with great fanfare:
Now San Francisco residents have another choice, unveiled on Thursday by the mayor and Treasurer Jose Cisneros. It’s called Payday Plus SF and it’s an option to what critics call the predatory practices of payday lenders.
“It’s one thing to criticize these APRs that are as much as 400-500 percent, but if you don’t have an alternative, it’s unfair to criticize. So we are trying to offer an alternative,” said Newsom.
The city is teaming up with six credit unions and their branches to offer loans of up to $500 with a maximum interest rate of 18 percent and a year to repay.
“It’s an opportunity to extend that kind of credit to people who would otherwise not have access to quality rates,” said Margaret Libby from Mission San Francisco Federal Credit.
From what we know so far, the loan also has an application fee and longer terms.
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