{"id":2226,"date":"2007-08-28T09:03:53","date_gmt":"2007-08-28T15:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testbanksouthern-ada.aceone.io\/news\/2007\/08\/28\/nlr-looks-at-a-delay-on-cashers\/"},"modified":"2007-08-28T09:03:53","modified_gmt":"2007-08-28T15:03:53","slug":"la-nlr-estudia-un-retraso-en-los-cajeros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/nlr-looks-at-a-delay-on-cashers\/","title":{"rendered":"El NLR estudia un retraso en los cajeros"},"content":{"rendered":"

City leaders also study payday-lender zoning<\/em><\/p>\n

A move to add zoning restrictions on businesses that make \u201cpayday loans\u201d has North Little Rock officials looking at a two-year, citywide moratorium on new check-cashing businesses.<\/p>\n

The ordinance would establish a 24-month moratorium on the establishment of check-cashing businesses while the city studies zoning measures that would specifically affect payday lenders, City Attorney Jason Carter said Monday.<\/p>\n

The measure is scheduled to be introduced to the North Little Rock City Council at today\u2019s 7 p.m. meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed reasonable to declare a moratorium while a study is being done,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

Existing businesses that make payday loans would be allowed to renew their city business license if they hold a valid permit from the State Board of Collection Agencies.<\/p>\n

Statistics from consumer advocates have shown that North Little Rock has a disproportionate number of such lenders compared with other central Arkansas cities, Carter said. North Little Rock has 11 such businesses in the city with most of those in Ward 1 in the central city and Ward 3 in the Levy and Camp Robinson areas in the city\u2019s west.<\/p>\n

Critics of payday lending say that such loans prey on people desperate for money.<\/p>\n

A payday loan in Arkansas works like this: A customer writes a check for $400, for example, and receives $350 in cash.
\n The lender normally keeps the check for two weeks before cashing it.<\/p>\n

A $50 charge on a $350 loan for 14 days is the equivalent of 371 percent in annual interest.<\/p>\n

Under the Arkansas Checkcashers Act, the customer must repay the loan before the agreed-upon date or the lender must deposit the check.<\/p>\n

Once the loan is repaid or the check is deposited, the customer can take out another loan by exchanging another check for cash or promising to repay the loan.<\/p>\n

If the customer takes out consecutive loans every two weeks, he potentially can pay more fees than the amount of the original loan.
\n Some borrowers will spend more than $1,000 before paying off one loan, consumer advocates have said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been looking at ways to address some of the predatory practices of payday lenders,\u201d said Michael Rowett of North Little Rock, chairman of Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending, a consumer protection advocacy group. \u201cIt drowns people in debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arkansas Financial Services Association, which represents the majority of check-cashing businesses in the state, believes enacting a moratorium is unnecessary to deal with a few who break the law, said Bradley Rogers of Stuttgart, the association\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a shame because it further limits the citizens of North Little Rock in where they can go and get short-term money,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess they will now be forced to go to pawn shops. Is that better?\u201d<\/p>\n

Payday lenders are licensed and audited by the state, Rogers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people [in the business] who break the law and they should be closed,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are not complying with the law they get shut down. That\u2019s the way to do business whether you\u2019re a payday lender or whatever industry you\u2019re in. You\u2019ve got to play by the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Little Rock would be the first Arkansas city to issue a moratorium on new payday lenders, Rowett said. At least 13 states have passed laws prohibiting payday lending in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moratorium is just sort of a common-sense way to study the issue a little further and arrive at some sort of necessary protection for consumers,\u201d Rowett said.<\/p>\n

Zoning for payday lending businesses falls under regular commercial businesses, Carter said, but could fall under more restrictions if placed under a special category.<\/p>\n

The city has placed specific zoning restrictions in handling sexually oriented businesses, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the particular nature of a sexually oriented business, you have more restrictive zoning rules that keep them away from schools, churches and out of neighborhoods,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some [consumer advocates] of the opinion that a similar type of restrictions should be placed on payday lenders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Un movimiento para a\u00f1adir restricciones de zonificaci\u00f3n en las empresas que hacen \"pr\u00e9stamos de d\u00eda de pago\" tiene funcionarios de North Little Rock mirando a una moratoria de dos a\u00f1os, en toda la ciudad de nuevos negocios de cambio de cheques.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banksouthern.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}