Posted by One of the potentially most significant stories of the day is Sen. Lowell Barron’s change of heart regarding the payday loan industry.
Some will dismiss it as an election-year ploy, but as Barron is not particularly vulnerable, he does not need to do this to get re-elected.
The payday loan industry preys on people who are in dire straits and is not regulated by the consumer protections that most of us enjoy when we borrow money from more conventional sources.
Barron says he is now out of the payday loan business himself and that he will propose reforms this next legislative session.
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I’m glad to hear this. His campaign email address was something at cashexpress -dot- com or something. I thought that was just a little off for someone in office. Well… kinda. Actually, I guess it makes sense.
It might have something to do with the fact that Barron was one of the heavy funders of the PACs that ran ads criticizing Dial, Pruett, and Holley for votes against bannng payday load operations.
[...] Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, claimed to see the light last fall. The former President pro tem said then that he would get out of the payday loan business and propose reform for the industry this session. [...]
[...] The interest rate for most loans to Alabamians is capped at 36% APR by the Small Loan Act, but the legislature passed a law exempting payday loans from the statute after the banking industry sued payday loan businesses to bring them into compliance. Last fall, Sen. Lowell Barron (D – Fyffe) claimed to be committed to reforming the payday loan industry in the state, but the legislation he eventually proposed appeared to be written by the industry itself. Then-Senator Bradley Byrne (R – Fairhope) proposed the real change in the industry with a bill that would subject payday loans to regulation under the existing Small Loan Act. [...]