Tag: Payday lending

It was a cold October morning and the Rev. Timothy Tyler was preaching from a corner on Denver’s 16th Street Mall. “It is time for...

State Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, like other Democrats, is a payday loan fence-sitter. She sees the need to protect consumers from abuses but she also sees the need for short-term credit. Schafer is calling for credit unions to create emergency loan programs and she told the Colorado Independent she felt Denver Democrat Mark Ferrandino's bill that seeks to regulate the payday industry, HB 1351, should be laid over until lawmakers can come up with a better solution. Schafer said she felt the threat of losing payday jobs was a real concern.

DENVER-- Lawmakers and lobbyists here are doing informal math and developing strategy, asking "Who is for and who is against the payday loan regulation legislation introduced by Denver Democrat Mark Ferrandino?" Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, is against the legislation, as it stands, which doesn't mean she can't be swayed, she told the Colorado Independent today.

DENVER-- The war to regulate payday loans in Colorado continues behind the scenes at the capitol here. Lobbyists and lawmakers are working hard to shore up votes for and against legislation introduced by Denver Democrats Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Chris Romer weeks ago. The bill is stalled for now as negotiations over proposed amendments continue. "We are working the bill hard," Ferrandino told the Colorado Independent. "And, as you know, the other side is definitely working it hard, too."

DENVER-- Perhaps no issue will underline the divide separating state Democrats and Republicans this legislative session as well as the war to rein in the payday loan industry. That war saw its first real skirmishes Monday at the capitol when roughly 150 payday-loan business owners and employees rallied outside the building in advance of a hearing on a bill that seeks to cap payday interest rates and limit the infamous cycle of personal payday-loan debt the industry depends upon to generate millions in profits.