Virginian Pilot hates the free market
December 25, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, regulation | Comments (0)This blistering editorial attacking the state legislature for not cracking down on title lending and payday lending could have made the point that we need to have competition between the two services. That’s what would best serve the consumers.
That was quick
July 7, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, regulation | Comments (0)The Black Caucus of the Virginia House of Delagete responds to Julian Bonds letter yesterday in the Virginian Pilot. From today’s Pilot:
MEMBERS OF the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus were very interested to read ‘Va. Black Caucus is AWOL,’ the [July 3] letter signed by NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond. He asserts that the practice of predatory lending in Virginia and the misuse of the commonwealth’s open-ended credit statute by certain industries is ‘unfair’ and ‘usurious.’ On this point, he is right. However, his brazen and uninformed claim that the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus has been absent on the issue is by all means wrong.
The VLBC’s record of engagement on this issue is stellar. Members have introduced a series of bills and numerous floor amendments addressing predatory lending that have created databases of payday lenders, limited the number and frequency of payday loans lenders can make to individuals and curbed other abuses. Our work has resulted in a dramatic 84 percent drop in the number of payday loans made monthly [through the end of May] compared to 2008, according to the Bureau of Financial Institutions, as reported in The Pilot on June 20.
And more noise in VA
July 6, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, regulation | Comments (0)Yet another Virginian Pilot editorial calling for rate caps. Too boring to read. You’ve heard it all before.
These people are grownups?
May 19, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, media coverage | Comments (0)In today’s Democratic gubernatorial debate, payday lending came up. From the Virginian Pilot:
“There’s very few things, Brian, that you have said that are true,” McAuliffe said, lamenting Moran’s “divisive and destructive” politics. Then, within seconds, McAuliffe wheeled and accused Moran of voting in 2002 to legalize payday lending — short-term loans that charge exorbitant interest rates.
In February 2002, Moran voted for a bill setting ground rules for the industry. In April of that year, he voted with 75 other delegates to reject Warner’s amendments to study the industry and recommend ways to tighten its regulation to the 2003 General Assembly.
I’ll bet that almost no one watching the debate knew what they were talking about.
This sums up Virginia situation
May 4, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, regulation | Comments (0)From the Virginian Pilot:
Since the year’s end , the number of payday lenders in the state has declined 16 percent to 58, according to Virginia’s Bureau of Financial Institutions. Some closed their doors. Others, including Allied Cash Advance, Oceana Auto Title Loans and Jerry’s Payday Loans, remain in business but concentrate on title loans and other forms of open-end credit.
The shift, said lenders, was prompted by recent changes to Virginia’s Payday Lending Act, which included :
- Extending the time borrowers have to repay to twice their pay period, so that someone who is paid weekly has two weeks to pay off what they owe.
- Changing what lenders can charge to a simple annual interest rate of 36 percent plus a fee of as much as 20 percent of the loan amount, or $100 for a $500 loan.
- Prohibiting borrowers from rolling over an existing loan and limiting them to one loan at a time.
The pot calling the kettle black
May 2, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, regulation | Comments (0)From the opening sentence of a Virginian Pilot editorial today:
It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in economics to operate a predatory loan business. And yet the efforts by state lawmakers to regulate the industry make payday lenders look like geniuses at avoiding real limits.
It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in economics to be an editorial writer at the Virginian Pilot. Economists see the value of short-term lending.
Payday Pundit is having a stroke
February 17, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, media coverage | Comments (0)The editorial below got my blood pressure up, this one in the Virginian Pilot is finishing me off. Do any editorial writers realize we’re in a deep economic downturn? That “banning” industries is not a good idea?
VA bill passes committee
January 26, 2009 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, industry, industry critics, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (0)We’ve reported on these pages the concerns of Virginia legislators that lenders in the state were offering an open line of credit in addition to a regular payday loan. A bill to prevent this service passed a Senate committee late this afternoon. From the story:
The legislation, SB1470, would prohibit licensed payday lenders from offering open-ended loans, which can feature soaring interest rates.
Its sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, told the Senate Commerce and Labor committee that payday lenders are pushing more expensive open-ended loans instead of the shorter term payday products whose use was regulated by the General Assembly last year.
The Pundit doesn’t know why giving consumers a choice between two services is such a concern to the legislators. Competition among the different companies will drive the prices of these services down to their lowest possible price.
Crazy
December 16, 2008 | Virginia, Virginian Pilot, alternatives, industry, media coverage, states | Comments (2)The Virginian Pilot loses its mind. This is one of the most incoherent editorials we’ve ever read. On our worst day, the Payday Pundit doesn’t sound this crazy.
As the song goes…
December 2, 2008 | Virginian Pilot | Comments (0)“don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
