Borrow Smart Alabama says anti-consumer database legislation dies in Senate
MONTGOMERY, Ala., April 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Borrow Smart Alabama, an industry group comprised of short-term lenders, said hard-working Alabamians who depend on payday credit in emergencies or to make ends meet will benefit from the state Senate's refusal to pass anti-consumer, anti-business database legislation.
The legislation in the Senate, called HB 145, would have established a statewide database tracking individual payday lending activity while imposing a heavy fee on the industry to pay for its maintenance.
Max Wood, president of Borrow Smart Alabama, said regulator-operated databases put in place in other states have prompted consumers to turn to more expensive sources of credit, including offshore Internet lenders, or risk costly bank overdraft fees or utility re-connect charges.
In addition, Wood said as many as half of the state's short-term lending operations, most of them mom-and-pop enterprises, would have closed their doors if the database provision had passed, triggering as many as 2,500 job losses across Alabama.
"In not passing HB 145, the Alabama State Legislature has served the will of the people of Alabama and refused to bend to the voices of a few paid activists," Wood said. "This legislation was anti-consumer and anti-business, and it would have forced middle-income Alabamians to find sources of cash that are more expensive and risky."
SOURCE Borrow Smart Alabama
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