Posted on 12 May 2008. Tags: bans, HB 267, job loss, John Lynch, New Hampshire, Union Leader
Sunday’s editorial in the New Hampshire Union Leader asks, “What, if anything, is the governor going to do for the 200 private-sector workers he personally will make jobless at the start of next year?”
A few excerpts:
Last week legislators essentially outlawed payday lending and title lending in New Hampshire. The industry employs roughly 200 people in the state. All of them will be out of work by Jan. 1. That’s when House Bill 267 takes effect. Gov. Lynch, who ought to know better, has said he will sign the bill.
The 200 employees in the payday and title loan industry will have to find new jobs because they are unlucky enough to work in a field the governor doesn’t approve of. The state has eliminated their jobs, and tough luck to them.
When it comes to making decisions about people’s livelihoods, Gov. Lynch has a history of picking winners and losers based on purely political calculations.
By banning payday lending, Gov. Lynch and legislators in New Hampshire will now have to answer to the 200 employees they’ve put out of work and the thousands of customers whose credit options have been yanked away.
Posted in employees, industry, media coverage, New Hampshire, positive media coverage, regulation, states, Union Leader
Posted on 12 March 2008. Tags: alternatives, ban, employees, HB 267, job los, Manchester, New Hampshire, Peter Bragdon, rate cap, Ryleigh Simms, state regulation
Thanks to Dave for sending the following to Payday Pundit…
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New Hampshire is on the verge of banning payday loans. I own a payday loan office in Manchester, NH. The following is a letter one of my employees wrote to address this injustice.
Guest Shot: Appalled at Legislatures effort on payday lending
February 22, 2008 6:00 AM
I am a payday loan officer in Manchester. I have been very active with the current bill (HB 267) that has gone through both the House and the Senate.
This bill will eliminate payday loans in the state of New Hampshire by imposing a 36 percent APR cap. Thirty-six percent would mean for every $100 loan, we would make $1.36, this is not enough to pay normal maintenance for a company. I am appalled at the behavior of both the senators and House members in regard to these bills. It is my belief that instead of working in the interest of their constituents, they are working in the interest of the banks.
…In the past four years, the welfare department of New Hampshire has seen a drop in the number of people requesting assistance. Oddly enough these numbers coincide with when payday loans first started to emerge in the state. Instead of New Hampshire residents asking for government assistance, they are trying to make ends meet on their own.
…At the New Hampshire Senate hearing which was held on Feb. 14, Sen. Bargdon of Milford, admitted to having a limited knowledge of how payday loans work. Instead of voting with a lack of knowledge about the subject, he actually visited a payday loan office. He spoke to customers and loan officers. After getting an idea of what it is we do, he voted against HB 267 to eliminate payday loans, deeming payday loans to be a valuable service. Perhaps the vote would have gone differently had more senators took the initiative to visit or even call a payday loan office.
…HB 267 has left a number of people without an option and currently it appears that the only ones benefiting from its passage are the banks. The banks who will be making $30-$40 per overdraft fee. As stated earlier, these fees equated more than $30 million in one state, and that was within one year. It now seems as though the senators have lost the interest of the people and replaced it with an interest for the banking institutions. My concern is no longer for myself and the 200 other employees out of a job in the state of New Hampshire. My concern is where are our customers supposed to go?
Well said Ms. Simms.
Posted in customers, employees, industry, media coverage, New Hampshire, positive media coverage, states
