April 19, 2010 10:50 PM UTC

GJ Sentinel: End "Payday Usury"

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Unusually direct language from the conservative Grand Junction Sentinel editorial board:

Giving people the opportunity to borrow a little money between paychecks is fine. But it’s hard to find much sympathy for businesses up in arms about a bill that would allow them to charge annualized interest of only 45 percent on such loans.

Currently, they’re able to charge interest rates that amount to 400 percent or 500 percent a year on the short-term loans. That’s outrageous…

[P]eople in most other states have managed to survive with annual interest rates on payday loans limited to 45 percent. We suspect they’ll do so in Colorado, too.

The Legislature should pass House Bill 1351 and put a cap on payday usury.

House Bill 1351 did indeed pass third reading in the House this morning, with help from the frequently-maligned Rep. Kathleen Curry (I), and proceeds now to the Senate–the brusque threats by the industry to “see” proponents “on the floor” don’t appear to be having the intended effect. We mentioned previously that the saturation hard-sell lobbying campaign by the payday lenders against this bill may have reached a point of diminishing return, at length beginning to drive lawmakers in the opposite direction. Payday lending lobbyists, it seems, aren’t any more ingratiating than payday lending spammers.