Legislation referred to as the Sunset Clause in Arizona will put businesses that offer payday loans out of business. The law would force all payday lenders out of the state in 2010. The state legislature is soon to tackle this issue.

Unfortunately there are people in Arizona like Ken Clark, campaign manager for Arizonans for Responsible Lending. Clark said compromise is not an option. They are only willing to put a 36% APR cap in the state and that is all.

You might think that a leader in a group that calls for responsible lending would be able to perform some simple mathematics and calculus. Dramatically decreasing the rate would require a significant increase in the term of the loan to be profitable. Perhaps Clark and others have not figured out that payday loans are appealing precisely because they are short-term.

I would think that in a time of financial crisis in this country that people would be promoting business, not trying to tear it down. As if unemployment is not already high enough, Clark and his crowd want to put an outright ban on payday loans. There are 92 payday loan locations in Mesa alone! Banning them in the whole state would leave a lot of tellers without a job.

We call on legislators and other policy makers in Arizona to seriously research payday loans and learn the truth for themselves. Don't fall for the scare tactics of these supposed "consumer advocates."