Pentagon Battles 521.43% Interest Rates

Home

9/14/2006, 8:23 pm

Turn the volume down on your speakers before you visit this link. If you can ignore the annoying audio advertisement and focus on the article, you’ll read an incredible piece of reporting in the Portales News-Tribune titled, “Military looks to change laws regarding payday loans“.

In addition to noting that a Defense Department report in August estimated 17 percent of military personnel use payday loans, the interview with the lady who manages a payday loan outfit near a military base is astonishing. The manager says that most payday loans are for amounts between $100 and $1000 and have interest rates as high as 243 to 521.43 percent!

Apparently, the military is worried that financial difficulties may compromise the troops. So the Pentagon is backing a Congressional effort to place a national cap of 36 percent on payday loans to military personnel. (Maybe a Congressional effort to increase pay for our troops would help, too.)

And of course this begs the obvious question, “Congress, what about the rest of the American population?” If a 521.43% interest rate is too high for the military, isn’t it too high for every other American citizen, too?

Wake up, Congress! It’s way past time to reign in the payday loan industry which preys on the financially weak.

Share This Post ...