Hey there,

Now I'm tracking two payday loan bills - House Bill 2871, which will cap interest rates payday, car title, and consumer finance loans. Within the last hour it was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee. This makes me extremely cranky.

I've managed to kill 14 other interest rate caps in 14 other states. But here they've got a Democratic Speaker of the House, Jeff Merkley, who has a fir in his belly about making sure consumers don't get ripped off. He's been a stick in my craw for years, but now that he's speaker, he can do some real damage.

If this bill passes the Senate, all of my plans to use loopholes to protect my business model will crumble. This bill caps interest rates to 30 percent + the current Federal Reserve Discount Rate. That means bye-bye 500 percent interest and bye-bye guaranteed repeat loans from people who can't afford to pay off the loans they took out for quick emergency cash.

Like I said, this bill makes me cranky.

Next up before this committee is House Bill 2005, which will add underwriting requirements to payday lending. This is a disaster.