Houston Could Become Fifth Significant Texas City to Crack Down on Pay Day Loans
In a rebuke to your do-nothing Texas Legislature, Houston took one action toward becoming the 5th major Texas town to pass payday and loan that is auto-title. Houston Mayor Annise Parker outlined her proposition final week and announced that she’dn’t dilute the proposed ordinance according to industry needs.
“I had at first favored a Houston-specific measure, but decided that joining along with other Texas metropolitan areas in a united front side on this problem is the greatest option to deliver a solid message towards the Texas Legislature,” she said.
In a town very usually rolls over for big company, Parker took a interestingly strong stand against the Texas cash advance industry, which did more than $1 billion running a business into the Houston metro area in 2012 alone. Based on the Houston Chronicle:
She brushed apart issues about welcoming case, saying the town is sued daily, and failed to finesse her message towards the industry.
“They have actually stated they’ll go outside of the town limitations of Houston, and I also state: Don’t allow home hit you on your way out,” Parker stated. “This is not about building a profit that is reasonable. This will be about preying in vulnerable human being beings and making an obscene revenue.”
The Houston that is proposed ordinance much like those passed away in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. Of Texas’ six biggest urban centers, just Fort Worth nevertheless does not have any laws on payday and auto-title lending. The movement to curb usurious and predatory practices has fallen to municipalities, a role that many are embracing because the Legislature has repeatedly failed to impose anything more than cursory limits on the industry.