Pastors from churches around the state spoke in favor of payday loans, and they weren’t alone. A leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — the organization founded by the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. — supported it. Even the granddaughter of a celebrated Florida civil rights leader was an advocate.,This year’s bill was the most significant expansion of the payday loan industry since the companies were first allowed to operate in the state in the early 2000s.
Companies like Amscot will now offer up to a $1,000 loan and collect up to $214 in fees. Before, the companies could only offer $500 loans and collect $55 in fees.,For Amscot and other companies, the bill was critical to staying in business in Florida.
A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule, which was proposed under the Obama administration and is now on hold under the Trump administration, would wipe out the payday industry, the CFPB admits. By increasing the amount of the loans, lenders in Florida can get around the rule.,The bill sailed through this year’s Legislature despite concerns from consumer protection groups, who cited studies showing that payday loan companies unfairly target minority neighborhoods.,Republicans sponsored and pushed the bill, but Tampa’s Janet Cruz and Miami Gardens’ Oscar Braynon, the two Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, co-sponsored it, and black Democrats seemed almost universally in favor of it. Lawmakers and advocates, including the pastors, said they didn’t want to see the payday loan industry disappear.,Advocates noted that payday loans were cheaper and less nefarious than credit cards and pawn shops, two other types of short-term credit.
Unlike credit cards, Florida does not allow borrowers to take out more than one payday loan at a time. Even ardent opponents of payday lenders acknowledge that banks and credit unions do a poor job supplying credit to underprivileged communities.,Amscot gave to other organizations. The Urban League of Pinellas and Broward counties got $100,000 in August.
In January, a representative of the Pinellas chapter told lawmakers about how he used a $500 payday loan to help get his son through college.,“What we were exposed to is a well-financed access machine by the payday loan industry,” said the Rev. James Golden, who has a church in Tampa and spoke against the bill in Tallahassee.,But he said he voted for it because so many people in his district rely on payday loans and he couldn’t cast a vote that would potentially do away with the industry.,“I wish that they didn’t have to use payday loans to make ends meet every month,” he said. “But I know people who do.”
online payday loans in arizona
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий