Crack Down on Payday Loans
June 20, 2008
Fast Cash.Bad Credit...No Credit...
You've probably seen the ads and now some Peoria officials are cracking down on the industry.
City leaders say the number of cash advance stores in Peoria has doubled in the past year, and they want to put a stop to it.
News 25's Syreeta Baker has that story.
"There are quite a few but if you are in a bind they help out."
Peoria Resident Kerensa Nunn is referring to the number of payday loan stores in the city. Even though she uses the cash advance, she supports Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken's plans for a moratorium on them.
"We're exploring ways we can regulate them either through licensing or perhaps through zoning to limit where they're located, how they're located."
Councilwoman Barbar Van Auken says last year in Peoria's phone book there were only 14 payday loan businesses like this.
This year that number has jumped to 27.
"Constituents who contacted me say they were concerned about the proliferation of these stores in the city and what that says about their neighborhood when they locate there," says Barbara Van Auken.
"I do utilize them I think that they are good but for so many of them to be open and available I don't think that's what it should be," says Karensa Nunn.
The city's senior staff attorney Clifton Mitchell says other cities have enacted similar payday loan ordinances in the past, so this nothing out of the ordinary.
"Cities have taken different approaches to this. Some have done it from the zoning point of view, some have done it from the licensing point of view, so who knows we could have a combination of those two."
On Tuesday Peoria's city council could decide if now is the time for them to put a cap on the cash advance.
Source : http://www.week.com
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