Business News

Senators rewrite payday lending restriction bill

by Leslie Turk

Under a bill that received the backing of a Senate judiciary committee, a person would be limited to 10 short-term loans a year from payday lenders.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -Under a bill that received the backing of a Senate judiciary committee, a person would be limited to 10 short-term loans a year from payday lenders.

Senators reworked the proposal before supporting it Tuesday.

As it was introduced, the measure by Sen. Ben Nevers sought to cap the fees that can be charged by the storefront lenders at an interest rate of 36 percent annually.

Nevers said he wanted to stop the debt cycle that he said was caused by payday loans that carry short terms and high interest rates.

But Sen. Danny Martiny said Nevers' original bill went too far and would shut down the payday lending industry in Louisiana. Martiny proposed the change to a cap of 10 loans annually.

The bill moves next to the full Senate.

Read IND Managing Editor Walter Pierce's recent payday loan column here.