News Something the Democrats Are Doing In Olympia This Session
posted by on January 3 at 12:33 PM
The list of prefiled bills in Olympia (the session begins next Monday) includes House Bills 1020 and 1021 which would regulate the payday loans industry. HB 1021, for example, would cap payday APR at 36 percent.
As Angela has reported, MoneyTree’s rates can hit 400 percent.
Seattle Reps who are sponsoring the bill are Mary Lou Dickerson (D-36, Magnolia, Queen Anne, Ballard), Bob Hasegawa (D-11, South Seattle, I.D., West Seattle, Burien, Renton, Seatac), and Joe McDermott (D-34, W. Seattle, Vashon, Burien).
Is there a companion Senate bill?
Good luck getting past Senator Margarita Prentice, Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, and friend of the payday loan industry.
About frickin time. And Margarita had better stand down, before she gets rolled over.
Is it really a good idea? I know those places are evil, but maybe they are occasionally necessary to some people, and with a fee capped at 36 percent, they may close up shop.
Plus, the other sad part of these places ithe fees they charge just to cash a check. To me, seeing someone pay a 10% fee for his own money is far worse than have someone pay 400% interest on a short-term loan. The bill should put that shit on there too.
Yeah right. You forget who OWNS most of those places - the very same banks that turn you down. Follow the money/ownership trail. Capping the usury at 36 percent only means they will have to play by the rules and stop trying to bankrupt us.
Rather than this draconian regulation, how about a tax with a rate proportional to the interest rate of the loan? If a company charges a higher interest rate to a customer, they are forced to pay a higher tax on their profit. That would allow market forces to curtail usury.
I just found out from my assistant this morning that Wells Fargo charged him $5 to cash a payroll check. That too should be illegal- especially since it's coming directly from my account with them. Banking fees are way out of hand.
Good point, Dave. Any bank that accepts social security checks should have standard accounts that charge $0 to cash a payroll check.
Did he not have an account at WF, Dave? I can see them doing that if he didn't hold an account there. If they don't have a relationship with the guy, they're on the hook if they cash the guy's check and it's a bad check.
Kyle 5 - No, that would also disrupt the market (like all taxes). Large loans would become unprofitable, and lenders would stop making them.
This bill is the wrong solution to a bad problem. It tries to curtail the supply of loans when we should be limiting the demand -- by educating people about money-management and helping people make ends meet.
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