Why is it that people government just don’t seem to “get it” ? I realize some of the time they just get bogged down with so many things to do, so many people to schmooze, trips, bills to negotiate on, fund raising and such, but sometimes the things they do make me scratch my head and say “What ? “. For example, the latest legislation proposed in Wisconsin, as covered by JSOnline.com in the editorial “Rein In Payday Lenders”. When reading this editorial I had to try hard to overlook the slight of tongue which is essentially calling Payday Loan customers stupid, or rather “less sophisticated”. Further, so many of the points of the bill make no sense and not only impose on individual rights, but make things worse for those seeking access to credit.
The bill sets a limit of a payday loan at 35% of your income or $600.00, which ever is greater. I can see the benefit of that,and I agree that people shouldn’t be borrowing more than they can logically afford. This is a great stance and something that I believe Check City takes pride in,as part of their customer experience is details, costs and terms of their services. Making bad loans to people who can’t pay them back isn’t a sound business decision. However, it’s a good thing though that now the State of Wisconsin will be there to make sure that you don’t borrow more than you can afford, or decide to commit yourself to pay back. Of course Check City could, like so many other institutions, decide how much they want to loan you based on some random, secret number that takes everything you have done into account for the last 7 years. Of course they could also turn around and base what it will cost you to pay the loan back on the same number. But based on their terms that doesn’t seem to be the case, but that is really another discussion for another time.
The bill also aims to set that customers can only take out 1 loan at a time. Taking out too much credit is bad as over extending yourself will only lead to more problems regardless of where you are getting your credit. If you can’t handle it, and pay it back within a reasonable amount of time, then you you shouldn’t take out the loan. With this line of thinking though, I guess at some point you might be forced to decide if you want a Visa or a MasterCard. That will be an interesting day, and would really heat up the credit card wars.
The great state of Wisconsin has also decided that rolling over your loan is bad, and seeks to ban it with this bill. So lets get this straight; the legislators feel like the evil payday loan companies have taken advantage of customers by writing loans with clear, set terms that the customer agrees to pay back; but now if something comes up and the customer can’t pay back the loan in full by the due date, they are forced to default on the loan as they can’t extend the loan, or roll it over. This seems like a, “Hey, you down there! Oh wait, let me kick you before you get up” move by Wisconsin Legislators just trying to “help”. Extensions and Rollovers allow customers more flexibility in paying off their loans by giving them more time to do so.
The final straw of this bill for me, is the ban on Title Loans.The idea that Wisconsin wants to tell an individual that they cannot utilize the value of personal property to obtain a loan with a better rate and more flexible terms blows me away. This is my property, I own it and if I want to take a loan against it, one that is secured by the value of my vehicle and therefore carries less risk to the lender, which they reward me for by lowering my rate, then that is my business. Why would they want to remove the option for people to get a loan with better terms and a lower rate, especially since these customers are so much “less sophisticated” and don’t know what they are doing with the things that they own?
All in all, this legislation just doesn’t make sense, nor does it really seem to be aimed at helping consumers. While there are companies out there that are not following existing laws that are created to protect consumers, legislation like this and many others more often seems to go the other way and will hurt consumer more and make things harder for those trying to access credit.
This editorial along with many others begs the question on whether local and federal governments along with so many newspapers and editorials want to eliminate your personal freedoms, and take aim at any one who offers services that would be in conflict with mega corporations offering credit. But wait, aren’t those the companies that they just spent millions of tax payer money bailing out; wonder what kind of campaign contributions that took to get passed ?
If you are “sophisticated”, or just find yourself needing access to a few hundred bucks to help take care of something that popped up, then a Payday Loan or Title Loan from Check City can help. The costs of the loan are less than many would have you believe. For more information or to find a Check City Location near you visit CheckCity.com. You might also want to take a look at the legislation that your local representatives are trying to pass and really evaluate how it will affect you.
Full Article: www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/87395927.html
