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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Saturday, October 31, 2009 10:00 AM

Payday loans: Same trick, different business

If the concern about payday loan companies is obnoxious signs and parking lots full of repossesed cars, then those issues should be addressed by the existing sign ordinances and junk/nuisance ordinances.

Ottawa used to have sign ordinances on how and where businesses could erect signs. I remember being involved in removing a sign at a business I used to work at in Ottawa because it did not meet city code. Merely having a vehicle on one’s property that is not properly tagged and registered is a violation of the existing junk ordinance.

If the repossesor is now the legal owner of the vehicle and it still bears the tags of whom it was repossesed from (or none at all), that in itself should be a violation of ordinances already on the books.

Does anyone question the true motives of a bank president who also chairs the planning commission that now wants to regulate and/or prohibit payday loan companies?

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way an advocate of payday loan companies. For what it’s worth, I also do not agree with the questionable business practices of banks that can issue credit cards, then change the repayment terms on a whim after the card has been used — then get bailed out by the taxpayers when things still go sour.

Many banks now are marketing a product very similar to payday loans, only it goes by the name “Overdraft Protection,” among others. These “loans” tend to have almost the same obscene interest rates and fees attached as do payday loans.

We’re sure starting down a slippery slope when we allow the government to decide which businesses are “good” and which are “bad” — when they provide essentially the same services.

— Joe Blake, Garnett

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Payday loans: Same trick, different business

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.