6A
NEWS/tC^it Ciiarlotte $ot
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Payday lenders draw lawmakers’ attention
Continued from page 1A
390 percent but that would
only happen if someme took
out a loan for $100 26 times
every two weeks. It’s very sel
dom that happens.”
The Senate bill authorizing
payday lending stores to oper
ate in North Carolina expired
m 2001, but nearly 400 stores
continue operation throu^
their affiliation with out-of-
state banks.
“The state Legislature did
the right thing in allowing the
sunset of laws that previously
authorized payday lending,”
said Phil Greer, senior vice-
president of loan administra
tion for the State Employees
Credit Union. “I believe the
state’s intent at that point
was to fiee the citizens of
North Carolina from the abu
sive practices of payday lend
ing. Unfortunately, these
compiuiies continue to oper
ate by using , their partner
ships with national banks. I
think it’s a travesty that they
can use this loophole to abuse
the citizens of N.C.”
If passed into law, SB947
would place stricter regula
tions on payday lend^s. The
bill states that borrowers
would not be l^ally allowed
to take out more than one
loan at a time. It places a limit
on the maximum loan being
25 percent of monthly gross
revalue or $500, whichever is
less. And it places stricter reg
ulations on collection activi
ties for military members.
Sen. Larry Shaw (D-
Cumberland), a oo-sponsor of
the bill, said that since pay
day lending isn’t going to go
away it might as well be regu
lated.
“Some members of the
Senate thou^t 'We’ll just let
it expire,’ and they could pack
up and go home. Well, it
estpired and people came bade
and got bigger and better at
what they’re doing,” he said.
Caucus to visit
Mississippi, N.C.
71IE ASS(X 'lAiED PRESS
JACKSON, Miss. — About a dozen members of the
Congressional Black Caucus are scheduled to be in Jackson and
the Delta this week to discuss health care, education, retirement,
affordable housing and other issues facing their constituents.
The lawmakers come from several Southern states and are
being hosted in Mssissippi by U.S. Rep. Bennie
Thompson.
“This is oiu* opportunity to take the
Congressional Black Caucus agenda out of
Washington and into the public at large,”
Thompson, D-Miss., said during a confer^ce call
this past week.
The caucus chairman, Rep. !Nfel Watt, D-N.C.,
said the group wants to eliminate unequal treat
ment minorities receive in many parts of life. He
said as the caucus develops policy proposals, it
Watt
Butterfield
will help to “start in Mississippi, where the needs are so great.”
Thompson next year will face probably his most
established D^nocratic primary challenger since
he went to Washington in 1993. State Rep. Chuck
Espy of Clarksdale—nephew of Thompson’s pre
decessor in Congress, Mike Espy—is already cam
paigning in the district that stretches through the
Delta into parts of Jackson and down to Jefferson
Coimty in southwest Mississippi.
During a conference call to promote the tour.
Congressional Black Caucus members praised
Thompson but said issues—not politics—prompt
ed their trip to his district.
“This is not a response to anything political that is taking place
in Mississippi,” said Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., has known Thompson for more than
two decades, and said Thompson “has bem just an unbelievably
effective political leader.”
As for the trip to Mississippi, Lewis said; “We’re not doing it for
political reasons. We’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”
A town-haU meeting is set fiom 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tliesday at
Jackson State University’s e-cente*.
On Wednesday the congressional delegation was scheduled to
go to Yazoo City for the groimdbreaking of a community health
. center and to Belzoni to tour a hospital. IheyTl also tour a hous
ing development in Greenwood and attend a 5:30-8:30 p.m. town
hall meeting at the Greenwood-Leflore County Civic Center.
“I think we can not only bring about a sense of hope, but we can
learn a great deal,” Lewis said.
On Aug. 19, caucus members plan to be in Charlotte to hold a
meeting about education.
One of first black UNC
graduates dies at 81
“It’s an embarrassment to the
state that we allow this activ
ity to go imchecked and that
is why I support this bill.”
The primary sponsor, Sen.
David Hoyle (D-Gaston), said
opponents basically have
their head in the clouds and
need to wake up.
“Thirty-six states have
passed laws to regulate this
industry but here we have too
many hot column do-gooders
who do not want to deal with
the real world that payday
lending is here and it’s not
going anywhere,” he said
But Greer says the bill
would only make things
worse.
“I think our state
Le^lature missed the boat
as far as SB947,” he said. “I
don’t think it will do anything
to end the abuse of our citi
zens by payday lending com
panies. In fact, it will increase
the abuse by adding to the
proliferation of payday lend
ing companies.”
Green, who is president of
the N.C. Check Cashers
Association, said “Some peo
ple who oppose the bill feel
that if you authorize these
stores they will pop up on
every street comer - so what.
What’s wrong with creating
jobs and revenue in North
Carolina?”
A 2003 study by the Center
for Responsible Lending, a
Durham consumer group
affiliated with the Self-Help
Credit Union, foimd that 91
percent of borrowers had five
loans or more and only 1 per
cent had one loan
‘Teople may think it’s an
easy way to get quick cash,
but most of the time they end
up doing repeat transactions.
which can lead to a long-term
debt situation,” CRL presi
dent Yolanda McGill said.
“That’s the dirty secret. Nine
out of 10 people won’t be able
to just pay that loan out and
walk away in two weeks.”
Payday lenders have also
faced strong opposition fix)m
civil rights groups. “We
believe that they target black
people and trap them in a
cycle of debt that is difficult to
escape. It’s the worst kind of
predatory lendii^,” NAACP
Chairman Julian Bond said.
According to a recent CRL
report, African-American
neighborhoods have three
times as many payday lend
ing stores per capita as white
neighborhoods. But an FDIC
study contradicted the CRL
report a week later stating
“Despite allegations to the
contrary, we didn’t find evi
dence that payday advance
stores tend to locate in minor
ity neighborhoods.”
The CRL also argues that
payday lending stores target
low income and military fam
ilies, and eld^ly people who
are more likely to be finan
cially strapped. But Green,
who owns and operates sevo*-
al payday lending and dieck
cashir^ stores, denies this.
“The poor, minority military
and elderly don’t need to be
used like pawns to get a point
across,” he said. “If we stop
doing business with them, we
would survive because they
are not our largest emstomer
base, but we have to provide
our service to everyone. If we
don’t give them our service,
they may turn around and
sue for civil rights discrimina
tion.”
TflEASSOC'lATED PRESS
KINSTON - Harvey E. Beech, one of the first black graduates
fiom UNC Chapel Hill has died at the age of 81.
Beech, who died Sunday after and extended illness, was one of
five black students admitted to the university’s law school in
1951 after a lengthy court battle. He was a student at Durham’s
North Carolina School for N^?x)es ~ now North Carolina
Central University • when Thurgocxl Marshall asked him to join
a case against UNC-Chapel Hill
Marshall, who eventually became the first black justice on the
U. S. Supreme Court, challenged the separate-but-equal status of
the law school. The case won admission for Beech and four oth
ers in a decision fix)m the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Beech and J. Kenneth Lee became the first black graduates
fiom the university the next year. Three years later, the schc»l
admitted its first black imdergraduates.
Still, Beech talked about the tou^ times he endured while at
the law school.
“He wam’t always treated as well and with as much respect
fium his fellow students as he should have been,” said David
Brown, senico* associate editor of publications for the school’s
General Alumni Assodation. "He spoke very openly about it in
recent years.”
George (^aham, a fiiend and chairman of the Ldiodr County
Board of Commissioners, said it was a “strug^e* for Beech.
“All through it, he stood up for what was ri^t, what is decent
and what was - and is - in the best interest of all people,” he said.
Tlie Kinston native practiced law fca* 40 years, serving on the
university’s Board of Visitors and the Board of Directors for the
UNC Law School Alumni Association. Last November, the school
hcHiGied Beech with the William Richardson Davie Award for
esetraordinary’ service to the schod or to society
A memorial service was scheduled for Wednesday with the
fimeral set for today
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