Thoughts 24 Mar 2007 07:04 am
Barbara Buckley
Let me start out by saying that I work for an installment lender and that these opinions are my own and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers or fellow employees. (I guess that’s a good enough disclaimer)
As much as I hate to agree with John Ralston, he called newly installed Speaker of the Assembly Barbara Buckley “first vulture” in addition to being the first female speaker.
“She is unlike anyone we’ve seen in a long time. She’s an ideolog and has an agenda. She is one of the smartest, ruthless, vindictive politicians I have seen.”
Last session, the Honorable Ms. Buckley pushed a bill through in the last two weeks of the session, when nobody had time to read it, not even the sponsers, that forced companies doing title loans to limit them to 6 months, with no possibility of extentions. When the time is up the company either reposseses the vehicle or writes it off.
This bill was written mostly by people like check-city who do payday loans with no collateral.
This year she’s got a bill coming before commitee that will take everybody who charges more than 40apr and put them into a special high interest category, and force anyone who takes vehicle titles as collateral back to the repo or write off situation, and payday loans would be limited to a fixed number of renewals with no possibility of refinancing.
Instead of allowing them to offer installment loans over a fixed period of months. Under the definition of installment loan, the borrower makes monthly payments consisting of both interest and principle, thereby paying the loan off within the term of the contract, with no penalty for an early payoff.
The 40apr apparently includes any and all other charges. The reason I use the word “apparently” is because Ms Buckley spoke with a lobbyist and told them that the bill coming before committee was not what she wanted and that she had an ammendment she would introduce later.
(Sneaky bitch ain’t she. She will get something through commitee and then change it at will. Ya just gotta love those politicians.)
I have no doubt that Ms Buckly meant well when this started but it appears to have turned into a personal vendetta.
Some of the companies that do unsecured loans are taking advantage of a flaw in the system, and giving installment loans that are not really installment loans, instead of fixing the flaw Ms Buckley is throwing a hissy fit and trying to destroy the entire industry.
Companies that do unsecured loans sometimes charge as much as 900apr and I agree that they need to be reined in, but the way she’s going about it will cause more harm that good.
If a person has less than great credit, you know the banks won’t touch them, but companies willing to take on high risk clients can help them.
If a person is in a bind and has less than great credit, but has the title to a good vehicle, or a good job, the banks don’t care. So where is this person going to get the money they need?
When I get hold of a copy of the bill she introduced I’ll post it.