Province seeks opinions on payday lenders
The Guardian
The Office of the Attorney General has released a consultation paper inviting the public to comment on the regulation of payday lenders in the province.
Payday lenders, who have moved into the province over the last few years and are operating store fronts in a number of Island communities, are not currently regulated by the province.
Attorney General Gerard Greenan says most provinces are moving toward regulating payday lenders. He said the province is currently considering a similar initiative and government wants to know what Islanders think.
“This is an opportunity for the public to tell us how the province should respond to payday lenders and what rules they would like to have applied to the industry,” the minister said.
In addition to dealing with the cost of borrowing, provincial laws are also requiring full and clear disclosure of all terms of the loan.
Comments must be submitted in writing by Dec. 31, 2008. More information is available on the provincial government website at www.gov.pe.ca/attorneygeneral (under Consumer Services) or by calling 902-368-4580 or 1-800-658-1799.
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Will Mac from Albion, PEI writes: Close them down! It seems that they are a place for cleaning dirty money and putting untold burdens on people already under a lot of distress. When I lived in Toronto it was the mafia that ran them - then they were called loan sharks. Seems like the very same business. Maybe the province should restore the orderly payment of debt program and provide some sort of micro credit. That would be a good solution but I doubt they will do anything. probably just another run around the roses. Thank goodness those committee members get a couple hundred dollars a day on top of their salary to sit around a listen.
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Deb from NS writes: Under law in Nova Scotia interest rates can be as high as 60% which is astronomical. If you are going to allow payday lending in your province, then strict laws against usury should be in place. If the defining characteristics of loansharking are high interest rates and a credit product that traps debtors, then the label certainly applies.
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Rod from BC writes: Like the money-changers in the temple they should be driven out.
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RG from PEI writes: A business is a business. I don't think they should have any regulations that other types of businesses don't have.
If they want to charge astronomical interest rates, then let them. They'll have to eventually lower them when nobody goes there for a loan.
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Jean elmer from egmont, pei writes: These are nothing but loan sharks! They should be outlawed as they currently operate, this blight has been on the horizon far too long!
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Gina Wong from PEI writes: They are a private business..so...when a bank will not give you a overdraft..then the blood sucker payday places dangle the carrot offering money with high interest....you are stupid to take it...but common sense does not always win! READ THE CONTRACT....most people do read it...but want the money so badly...they suck it up...then cry about it later. LOSERS
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AW from PEI writes: When people go for a pay day loan, it is not money that they need, it is help. Yes, Gina, they may well be the losers of society but that does not mean that they should be taken advantage of. In desperation, possibly to pay bills so that oil will be deliverd, as an example, the carrot is dangled in front of them.
If they should be going their because of gambling, rinking or drugs - again, it is help that is needed, not exploitation.
These places only exist because of failures in society - such as labelling those is different situations to us as losers. Perhaps if we had a minimum wage that was liveable, we wouldn't need these places.
Parasites multiply on the sick - and our society has many ills and injustices.
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View From Here from PEI writes: This type of lending practice makes its living off the less fortunate and disadvantaged of our community. Although we don't want governments telling what types of services people should have access to we do however need to protect people against themselves. Lets encourage government to make sure there are enough regulations in place to protect the consumer.
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Shylocky from Charlottetown, PEI writes: Other provinces and states in the U.S. are acting against payday loansharking.
There is a big lobby behind these storefronts trying to grease their way into low income areas.
It is up to those who put these nefarious operations out of business to provide institutions which will provide short term money at reasonable rates.
How about some suggestions? Social services agencies. Credit unions. Chartered banks. Any more?
I think we're all against usury. How about a workable, non-usurious alternative?
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Feel for some from PE writes: I think these companies should be shut down! I know all to many people who go just to help them out until payday to get a few groceries or something, then come payday because they had to pay that off they have to get another one, and so on and so forth... then in turn they get stuck in a hole paying these things off constantly and constantly in turn having to get another one just to pay the one before, its a never ending circle! A lot of these people cannot afford their daily bills then you add these things on top and they sink, then they can't get a bank loan, etc. etc. etc.... then their phones get shut off, then their power, and so on and so forth, so shut the frigging things down!
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The Banker from PEI writes: I used to work at a bank as a Financial Services Representative(Telephone Banking) and I can assure you that these payday loan stores are not run by the mafia nor are they loan sharks. They are a business, they want there money and they have ways of getting it. When you sign that contract it will clearly state that they have the right to take the money owed to them out of your bank account when you do not pay them.
I can not even begin to count how many people I had talked to on a daily basis that would call complaining that some company took money out of their account...or they would want me to place a stop payment on say Money Mart ...the client would not realize that Money Mart will get their sister company to go into the account to retrieve the money so as to avoid the stop payment.
Government should have no business regulating the payday loan stores...instead...maybe set up a program to educate the general public on how to manage money. The money the government would spend on a study or a panel to regulate the stores could be better spent on a free class for anyone wanting to take it to learn the finer points of money management.
Or we could just do the Island way and complain that the government has to babysit us...
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to the banker from pe writes: Look south. Giving loans to people that can't afford it, at an interest rate they can't pay isn't a god idea.
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Don't believe the Hype from PE writes: There seems to be two sides to this.
Yes, there is little doubt that the clients of these services are being taken advantage of. Often these loans end up cost up to 60% interest when worked out annually. But people are often going to these places because they do not have credit at the banks, despite having jobs. Should they be regulated. I would argue yes, but where do you set the interest rate. 20%....30%....40%. These places are loaning money to people who can't get money anywhere else when they need it. No one business say more about the dependance on credit than these businesses.
And at what point is the person responsible for their own actions. They are given a contract and they sign it. At what point do you have to sit back and let those foolish enough to sign these contracts learn the hard way. And to 'The Banker', the government does not need to set up programs to educate people on how to manage their money. They already exsist. That is what Credit Couselling Services does. And they are free.
Personally I think people should not use them, and I would not be upset if they were outlawed, or at least heavily regulated. But I hope noone believes that real loan sharks do not exsist on PEI. And closing these business will send people to real loan sharks. And payday loan companies never come knocking on you door with baseball bats.
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Seen it all!!! from Charlottetown, pe writes: I know of people, that have gambled away pay checks, and went to these pay day places, so that their spouse, would not know about missing money.
I know of people who lost their spouses, and cars and houses and families.
It is a tragedy! I would say close them down!!!!!
These people are loan sharks!!! They will make your life miserable!!! The interest is unbelieveable, these places should not exist.
Borrow from family or friends!! Do not pay half of your pay check to pay off these loans!! There should be a law, against this!!
Government should have a place, that if people should have to take an advance, until the next pay check, for heating fuel or groceries, that it is avaliable. There should be very little interest, after all we are all taxpayers, and need a break!
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Resident of PE from Charlottetown, pei writes: Shut them down, They are loansharks!
They are preying off the poor!
People who gamble use them!!
Let government set up a payday loan office with a little interest, Or close up these places for good!!!
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Cornwall from Cornwall, PE writes: I agree with Will Mac Close them down...
There are too many poor people out there, and their families are suffering!
He knows what he is talking about, let us get together and close them down!!
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