http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/15/2683520/apodaca-backs-payday-lending-bill.html

Quote :

"A bill that would bring back payday lending to North Carolina has attracted a powerful new co-sponsor: Senate Rules Committee chairman Tom Apodaca. The support of Apodaca, R-Hendersonville, added to the heavyweight lobbyists that the industry has retained, makes it a bill to be reckoned with. “I’m worried. I think, sadly, that this bill could very well pass,” said Al Ripley, director of consumer and housing affairs at the N.C. Justice Center, an advocacy group for the poor. “We are counting on the conscience of legislators, and their policy expertise, to recognize there is no good policy reason to have payday lending in North Carolina.”"

http://www.wral.com/payday-lending-bill-draws-criticism/12109600/

Quote :

"“These loans are especially dangerous to seniors,” said Helen Savage of AARP North Carolina. “The high costs of predatory loans carry serious risks for all of us, but especially for older North Carolinians on fixed incomes.”"

http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/11493239/

Quote :

"North Carolina allowed payday loans for four years from 1997 until 2001, but lawmakers allowed legislation authorizing the store-front shops to expire under pressure from consumer advocates, regulators and the military. "

Where do you stand on this issue?

2/17/2013 7:51:01 PM

I'm a partisan hack so I stand wherever my party tells me to stand.

2/17/2013 8:18:24 PM

What are they?

2/17/2013 8:52:18 PM

ITT North Carolina protects people from themselves.

2/17/2013 10:22:43 PM

Payday lenders charge less to borrow money than the next best alternative, which is default/bounced checks/loan sharks/inability to repair car, so I'm in favor of them. While unlikely, I may someday need their services. It would suck if they or I got arrested for this eventuality.

[Edited on February 17, 2013 at 11:46 PM. Reason : .,.]

2/17/2013 11:45:13 PM

No.

2/17/2013 11:50:45 PM

Free enterprise

2/18/2013 2:59:34 AM

let dumbasses be dumbasses

2/18/2013 8:02:05 AM

They provide a service that people are willing to pay for. The best thing to do is to make sure they have all of the information necessary to choose on their own, e.g., put 400% APR in big, bold letters on the form they sign rather than bury it in a sea of text.

2/18/2013 8:15:55 AM

Yes, the money's expensive, but it's a LOT cheaper than a payday advance. And it's enough to really get you over the hump.

2/18/2013 8:16:33 AM

What's really the problem here, the fact that payday lending takes place at all or the exorbitant interest and fees that those places charge? Seems like the compromise would be to allow payday loans but to place strict caps on interest charged.

2/18/2013 9:25:10 AM

The problem is they wouldn't stay in business with capped interest rates, given how often people default on those loans.

At least that's what they say, anyway.

2/18/2013 9:31:59 AM

payday loan places are fantastic money laundering fronts.

2/18/2013 9:50:35 AM

^^^ that's not the way it works. It can't work that way.

2/18/2013 10:19:59 AM

while I don't think government should be protecting people from themselves and interfering in business so much, I also don't think there is a need for such predatory businesses to be in the marketplace and I don't have a huge problem with the government giving them the boot (just like sweepstakes shitholes).

2/18/2013 10:33:18 AM

^as many times as i've heard you complain about the nanny state....



can't have it both ways, bud

2/18/2013 10:42:51 AM

The WRAL story said mentioned military opposition to past versions of this. I found this letter detailing some of the reasoning why.

http://www.responsiblelending.org/north-carolina/other-consumer-loans/consumer-finance-loans/tools-resources/NC-Senate-Ltr-HB-810-PCS.pdf

Quote :

"Thank you for the opportunity to address House Bill (HB) 810 PCS and its adverse impact on Fort Bragg service members and their families. I want to start by informing you that l unequivocally oppose HB 810 PCS because it harms Fort Bragg Soldiers and their families and it adversely impacts unit readiness at a critical time in our nation’s history. I urge your opposition to HB 810 PCS. This bill will result in increased exploitation of unsophisticated service members and their families to the detriment of their financial future."

Quote :

"ln the past, similar restrictions or Soldier exceptions have utterly failed to stop Soldiers from being targeted by predatory lenders. Furthermore, this exception does not include family members of the Soldiers Who will certainly be used as straw borrowers to circumvent the exception. Soldiers With financial emergencies should always seek assistance from their chain of command and other financial Army programs before further increasing their debt load. Out of control debt incurred by our service members results in loss of Security Clearance, a non-deployable status, and lack of focus on our nation’s most important and dangerous missions. HB 810 PCS not only puts our Soldiers at risk, it puts our nation’s security at risk."

[Edited on February 18, 2013 at 12:41 PM. Reason : .]

2/18/2013 12:40:23 PM

Quote :

"unsophisticated service members"

rofl

2/18/2013 12:53:23 PM

2/18/2013 1:13:53 PM

^ $5000 loan ends up costing 35k to pay off

2/18/2013 6:00:35 PM

Quote :

"^as many times as i've heard you complain about the nanny state.... can't have it both ways, bud"

maybe you missed the first half of my post?

2/18/2013 6:07:41 PM

Quote :

"can't have it both ways, bud "

You can, it's called practicality.

2/18/2013 6:42:52 PM

^^maybe you missed the last part of your post:

Quote :

"I don't have a huge problem with the government giving them the boot"

you should have a problem with it

2/18/2013 8:02:32 PM

Apparently, Unsophisticated service members = enlisted

2/18/2013 9:08:15 PM

State Employees' Credit Union started a great payday loan program when predatory payday lenders were outlawed years ago. It provided a low-rate salary advance loan to those who had previously been stuck in the cycle of needing a new advance in order to pay back their previous advance.

However, the credit union's program withheld a percentage of each loan, which it deposited into a savings account from which the loan holder could not withdraw. Once the savings account reached the same amount as the salary advance itself, the funds that had been saved were made available to the loan holder so that they were no longer reliant upon the advances.

2/18/2013 11:20:31 PM

They should play the military card again the put pressure on the Republicans. If say, a general at Fort Bragg were to come out and publicly say this is stupid, it puts pro-defense Republicans in an uncomfortable situation.

2/19/2013 10:37:19 AM

It was a Major General Rodney Anderson from Fort Bragg who wrote that letter to the NC Senate I posted earlier. Colonel Mike Whetston said at a press conference at the legislative building "Fort Bragg is absolutely opposed to the House Bill" the last time the GOP took up this bill. I bet we'll see them get into the predatory lending fight again.

2/19/2013 10:50:05 AM

Quote :

"you should have a problem with it"

I think you're confusing my anti-government intrusion on private individuals vs my views on companies providing services to the public at large. Despite what some black robe folks think, I don't view corporations as private individuals. Yes, they are private entities, but not an individual; not a citizen.

2/19/2013 4:21:44 PM

so why are you okay with the government intruding on my decision as an adult to take a large payday loan with an explicit high interest rate when i wan to do so voluntarily having been provided all required interest and fee notification information? its government intruding on my private interests as an individual.

2/19/2013 5:09:29 PM

maybe you misread my post, too. If anything, you should have gathered that I don't feel strongly either way on this particular issue and I never said I definitely think the government should intervene; I said I don't have a huge problem with it (I also said I don't care for government interference, hence two opposing views on the same topic!). To further explain my pro-government interference part of this... when an individual, or company, sets out on a predatory or fraudulent path in an effort to disenfranchise individuals through misleading or false information, or other similar tactics, often breaking or skirting the letter of the law, then I do believe some government intervention can be a good thing.

Do you have a personal right to buy white van speakers? In one sense, I say yes, if you are that stupid. On the other hand, I don't have a huge problem with a law prohibiting such scams and LEO action to see that through.

2/19/2013 5:46:50 PM

Fraud is already illegal. So is misleading customers. Keep in mind the courts have already ruled this business is in no way either fraud nor even misleading for consumers. As such, if this is your argument for allowing a ban, then we have a bigger problem, as you are proclaiming the courts have failed and not just payday lenders are now free to rip customers off, but every business in existence.

2/20/2013 11:34:33 PM

^^so you're not concerned with the govt staying out of everyone's life, just your life?

2/21/2013 8:34:00 AM

No payday lending.

2/25/2013 2:41:35 PM

^is that what was decided? if so good.

2/25/2013 3:46:08 PM

Just got this in an e-mail blast the NC Justice Center sent out about a recent poll (emphasis added):

Quote :

"Current law allows interest rates of up to 54 percent, but a new bill, Senate Bill 89, would allow payday lenders to charge an annual percentage rate well above 300 percent."

Quote :

"When asked if it would affect their vote if their state legislator supported a law to legalize payday lending, North Carolinians said that it would. Responses to the question “would that make you more likely or less likely to vote for that legislator, or would it not make a difference?” broke down like this: 72 percent said it would make them “less likely” to vote for the lawmaker supporting the bill, while 19 percent said it would not make a difference."

If the support for this bill among the public is in the single digits, then it makes me wonder about the motives behind it, and how much influence those who stand to make money off this have in the decision making process.

2/26/2013 2:52:25 PM

The republicans are the party of personal responsibility. They think 300% interest is fair and people should have to pay that for being poor, desperate, stupid, etc.

2/26/2013 3:03:31 PM