Senate Committee Hears Payday Lending Reform
Payday Lending reform wound up in the laps of the Senate Committee on Commerce this week, and the hearing was pretty packed with what seemed like an even split of advocates for capping payday loan interest rates at 36 percent, and employees of Advance America, one of two payday lenders operating in Rhode Island. You [...]
Don Anderson: Let There Be Payday Loan Reform
Rev. Don Anderson, president of the Rhode Island Council of Churches, says there are religious reasons for supporting payday loan reform. “In every religious tradition, the concept of usury is addressed,” Anderson said, at an State House event last week to call attention to payday loan reform. Anderson, who is also an important advocate for [...]
Diverse Groups Rally For Payday Lending Reform
Activists, citizens, legislators, the General Treasurer and three Republican mayors gathered at the State House to voice their opposition to the usurious payday loan schemes practiced by companies like Advance America, and Check ‘n’ Go. These businesses overwhelmingly serve the poorest Rhode Islanders, and have a tendency to put those who partake of their services [...]
Pew On Payday Loans: They Don’t Help Consumers
“Payday loans fail to work as advertised,” concludes a new report from the Pew Charitable Trust. The predatory practice of payday lending has been a highly charged issue for several legislative sessions. Standing in the way of reform is House Speaker Gordon Fox’s loyalty to former speaker Bill Murphy, who has been hired as an [...]
Fox Is Wrong To Say No Alts. To Payday Loans
It’s simply not true that payday loans are the only option to low wage borrowers as House Speaker Gordon Fox suggested to RIPR this morning. “I don’t like predatory lending practices,” Fox told RIPR, “but I also understand for folks that have nowhere else to go, it might be a valid tool for them to [...]
Gordon Fox, William Murphy and Payday Loans
After a short stint spent ostensibly serving the public, former House Speaker William J. Murphy now pointedly serves himself at the public’s expense working as a hired gun for predatory lenders Advance America, which has paid Murphy $50,000 to lobby the General Assembly on its behalf. Like any hired gun stripped clear of conscience, Murphy [...]
Payday Loans, Poverty on Tap Today at State House
Payday loan reform legislation has one of the most interesting coalitions at the State House; it includes the progressive community, the faith community and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo. This is because payday loans are bad for the state in general, poor people in particular and a net drain on our economy. Today on Smith Hill, [...]
RI Future, Gordon Fox Serve Those in Charge
Maybe Gordon Fox was a progressive once, and certainly every so often he throws out something that seems progressive, and yes, he’s kept anti-abortion legislation from coming to a vote, but really his reign is all about the money and the power.
Progress Report: Local Health Care Reform; Purple Rhode Island; Payday Loans, Mother Jones and Diane Ravitch
Congratulations to Christine Ferguson, who Gov. Chafee tapped to run the new Health Benefits Exchange. Rhode Island now has one of the sharpest minds in health care running one of the nation’s most innovative state-run systems. This is a phenomenon known as good news, Ocean State. Let’s do more stuff like that. Some people call [...]
Most Rhode Islanders Want Payday Loans Reformed
More than 3/4 of Rhode Island wants the General Assembly to reform payday lending, according to a Public Policy Polling survey. And, according to Rep. Frank Ferri, sponsor of a bill that would reign in interest rates on such loans from 260 percent down to 36, so does a vast majority of the legislators. “Now [...]
Raimondo, Taveras Support Payday Lending Reform
Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras have joined the calls for payday lending reform efforts, and both will participate in a roundtable discussion on the issue. “The time has come to protect Rhode Islanders from the economic threat of predatory lending,” Raimondo wrote to the Senate committee that recently took up a bill [...]
Litigation Lending: Payday Loans for Plaintiffs
While payday loans have garnered a lot of attention at the State House this session, the legislature is also considering new regulations on another form of predatory lending – this one is known as litigation lending. Litigation lending is the term used when a company will loan a potential plaintiff in a lawsuit money up [...]
Bill Would Cut Payday Loan APR from 260% to 36%
Two weeks ago a House committee heard some compelling testimony on a bill that would curb exorbitant interest rates on so-called “payday loans.” Today it’s the Senate’s turn, as the Corporations Committee will discuss Sen. Juan Pichardo’s version of the legislation. And according to a press release, Pichardo seems pretty confident the bill will become [...]
RI Mulls Reducing Payday Loan APR: 260% to 36%
Roger Paquette works at a bowling alley in Johnston and when needed some quick cash and he didn’t know where to turn. So he took out what’s known as a payday loan. It’s a decision he now regrets, he told a House subcommittee on Wednesday. “It’s not good,” he said. “There’s no easy way out [...]
Payday Reform and Policy Change: A Recent Conversation on Sonic Watermelons on BSR
PROVIDENCE, RI – Are Rhode Islanders paying fees for loans that are higher than what residents in other states are paying? The answer in some cases is yes – 260% versus 36%. Learn more about the type of loans that charge these rates, the impact of these loans on RI families, and what you can [...]
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