The payday loans regulations may be off the ballot in Missouri, but the topic is not out of the news. There were two opposing sides, each with a story, trying to be heard by as many residents of Missouri. In order to get their initiative on the ballot, there needed to be a certain amount of signatures within each district. Because the group, Missourians for Responsible Lending did not make their signature quota, their initiative to harshly regulate the payday loan industry was never put on the ballot.
Missourians for Responsible Lending have more to say on the subject. This group, which was started out by church representatives looking to prevent residents from getting further into debt, looked to help those financially struggling. These folks strongly feel that payday loan lenders are predators and banning the industry from their state was what they aimed for. They believe that from the beginning, payday loan lenders were pushing to stop their initiative through confusion and supporting politicians monetarily.
Would payday loan supporters use illegal ways to prevent the initiative from going onto the ballot?
According to the Missourians for Responsible Lending, there were some “goings on” which led their initiative to failure. The group believes:
- A different initiative was set up at the same time to confuse residents as to which one was meant to limit payday loans.
- Opponents had lots of money to pour into preventing more regulations.
- A box of signed ballots was mysteriously taken from an unlocked car.
- Alleged that threatening letters were sent to churches who supported the initiative.
- Ads, letters and newspaper stories were supposedly made public to confuse the efforts.
One side of the story relates that these efforts were trying to persuade the residents that the regulations of these loans would destroy the lending industry and prevent people who needed the loans from getting one. Another topic of the story dealt with the state losing tax money if the lenders left the state.
Missourians for Responsible Lending also states that other groups were formed with similar names, to add to the confusion, were being run by rich folk who paraded around with fancy clothing and diamond cuff links. These men supposedly claimed that they could not afford to stay in business if the loan interest rates were capped and that they were only in business to help the poor.
There were lawsuits filed and attempts made to recount and get the Missouri for Responsible Lending initiative on the ballot. It all came down to time. Ballots needed to be ordered for the voting to take place on time so without the resolution they were hoping for, the Missourians for Responsible Lending dropped their attempts to wait for another time. They believe that the $600,000 raised to support this group was nowhere going to make a dent in the offence funded by $2 million raised.
Legislature will need to propose this measure once again, but some people wonder if the power and money behind the payday loan supporters would see to defeating it again.
Spotya! Online Payday Loans will offer low cost payday loans to those whose states which allow them. If Missouri was to ban the direct payday loans, then Spotya.com would follow suit. The funds collected for political purposes were by some of the strong storefront companies which reside in the state.
