You may recall my previous post about the greedy, unconscionable payday loan bill known as HB 846. As I noted before, HB 846 would
- Allow lenders to sharply increase the fees that they charge for payday loans (From the Statesman: "The bill would allow payday lenders to charge $15 per $100 borrowed. For a $400 loan, that's $60. Most loans are made for a two-week period, which is equivalent to an annual interest rate of 391 percent." A second report I heard on NPR claimed that we could be talking interest rates as high as 900 percent.); and
- Allow lenders to escape increasingly tough federal regulation of their loans.
That's bad enough. But check this out: according to a new blog entry from Cosa Nostra, pay day lenders are adding insult to injury by forcing potential borrowers to call their state reps and ask them to support HB 846. From the Texas Observer:
Some industries have no shame when their agenda is on the line. And when lack of shame and cruelly creative tactics (like using the very people you are aiming to screw over to push the legislation that allows you to screw them over) are combined, the result is the sad scenario witnessed by Rep. Sylvester Turner's (D-Houston) Chief of Staff, Mitchell Howie, today.
Howie received a phone call from an elderly woman urging the representative to support Rep. Dan Flynn's (R-Van) CSHB 846, which allows lenders to raise the interest rates for payday loans (short-term, high-interest rate loans that many low-income people use between paychecks). After listening to her well-scripted supporting points, Howie inquired about who requested her to call. The woman, who sounded like she was pushing towards her late 70's, explained that she was at Advance America in Houston where she was told she couldn't receive her loan until she called to support this bill.
Classy! If you haven't voiced your opposition yet, do so today.
Posted by sarah at May 12, 2005 8:25 AM | TrackBack