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@@@ Given the meeting was held <a href=http://architectscanterbury.co.uk/page.php?sale=Kate-Spade-Beauty>Kate Spade Uk Stockists</a> in North Waco the same night Baylor University invited one and all to a free concert and fireworks show at its new $266 million stadium, I didn鈥檛 expect more than a few people to show, but some 60 to 70 fired-up, even angry residents attended, eager to do something about scandalous payday lending practices. Some wanted to know why the Waco City Council hasn鈥檛 followed the example of other cities in Texas and passed an ordinance at least moderately regulating such businesses.

Payday and auto-title loan stores 鈥?usually the businesses have the word 鈥渃ash鈥?in the name 鈥?often victimize the unwitting poor by appealing to their occasional need for fast cash, such as when car repairs crop up. The problem is the loans are marketed on a two-week or monthlong basis with astronomical interest rates or fees so high that the borrower often can鈥檛 pay the loan back. He can end up paying in interest or fees many times the value of the original loan. Talk about your cycles of poverty.
Citizens for Responsible Lending, which formed last winter, has some three dozen members and first met with city leaders in January, says at least 29 such loan businesses operate in the Waco area, with annual percentage rates of up to 500 percent and loan terms that pull borrowers into even greater debt.
What鈥檚 more, watchdog groups such as Texas Appleseed and the Texas Catholic Conference say payday and auto-title loan outfits in Waco have a reputation for some of the most punitive collection practices in the state. Jennifer Allmon, associate director of the Austin-based Texas Catholic Conference, learned of a Waco man so in debt to an auto-title loan company that he gave up his regular lodgings and moved into a homeless shelter long enough to save money to pay off the loan.
His mistake: telling lenders about it.
鈥淎nd they showed up and repossessed his vehicle with all of his possessions and he went to the homeless shelter and lost not just his truck but everything he owned,鈥?she said. 鈥淭hey were able to get assistance through an attorney to get his truck back, but the contract had a stipulation that all possessions in the truck were the property of the auto-title loan company, so he never got back his clothing, his furniture and his bedroom set. And, you know, it鈥檚 something to be willing to live in a homeless shelter to pay your debts.鈥?
Ann Baddour of the public interest law center Texas Appleseed dismisses the argument that such businesses help people in emergencies, especially given the outlandish annual percentage rates ranging from 200 to 600 percent: 鈥淎 product that <a href=http://architectscanterbury.co.uk/page.php?sale=Kate-Spade-Zebra-Bag>Kate Spade Outlet</a>  is designed for people to fail is not an answer. People may get the money they need on Day One, but on Day 30 they鈥檙e worse off than when they walked into the store.鈥?
Baddour and Allmon say they鈥檙e not out to eliminate such businesses but to ensure they鈥檙e regulated to keep more people from falling for the lure of quick cash with treacherous strings attached. However, payday loan industry lobbyists with deep pockets have blocked reforms, such as capping how high interest rates can go. One proposal discussed locally: alternative lending products offered through credit unions and community lenders or financial assistance through nonprofits or church groups.
Local advocates of reform say state Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-Bryan, who represents some economically struggling areas of Waco and Bellmead, has promised to back some sort of reform. And, they note, state Rep. Charles 鈥淒oc鈥?Anderson, R-Waco, sits on the Texas House Investments and Financial Services Committee and, thus, could be pivotal in such reforms. They say Anderson has asked for more information.
Community organizer Alexis Christensen of Waco Community Development says state data indicate <a href=http://architectscanterbury.co.uk/page.php?sale=Louboutin-Pigalle-Pumps>Louboutin Pigalle Pumps</a>  some $10.5 million is drained from the local economy each year because of such businesses in the Waco area 鈥?and that regulating these businesses, whether through city ordinances or action by the Legislature, would complement the mission behind Prosper Waco, our city鈥檚 impressive anti-poverty coalition.
She鈥檚 got a point. As a recent survey of our poverty problem by the prestigious W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research confirmed this year, it鈥檚 hard to get to work in Waco when you lack a car. And it鈥檚 tough coming home when you haven鈥檛 paid the rent.