Legislative reform to prohibit predatory lending practices in SC and event in Beaufort
Amplify Your Voice: Community Advocacy Workshop
January 27th from 10am-1pm
USC Beaufort Center for the Arts
805 Carteret Street
Lunch provided at this FREE event
Registration Required
https://app.glueup.com/event/amplify-your-voice-community-advocacy-workshop-93361/
The Alliance is a coalition of more than 30 faith groups, nonprofits, and individuals across the state who joined together 4 years ago. Our mission is to improve the economic mobility of South Carolinians by eliminating the high-cost debt trap created by payday, auto title and high-cost installment lenders. We support the passage of legislation that will eliminate predatory lending practices in our state.
These lenders market aggressively to people who have low credit scores and low to moderate income. Some lenders mail live checks to people that, once endorsed and deposited, become a high-interest loan. There is no application to complete, and the borrower does not meet the lender before the loan is made. That there are people who deposit these checks and do not understand what they have gotten themselves into. We want lenders to stop sending out live checks to people.
Once a person takes out an installment loan, after they have made 3 on time payments it is not unusual for the lender to call the borrower and offer them more money and a loan renewal that will extend the loan maturity. Loans are often renewed over and over and this is called “churning.” Installment lenders charge their interest up front, so when a loan is continually renewed, the borrower is not paying down the principal of the loan and gets trapped in a never-ending cycle of debt. We want to limit the number of times a loan can be renewed.
A critically important part proper loan underwriting is the evaluation of a borrower’s ability to repay. This seems so simple, but some installment lenders are not fully evaluating ALL of a borrower’s expenses. We want lenders to do a thorough evaluation of a borrower’s income AND ALL their expenses.
This reform will have to be passed by the South Carolina legislature. On January 9th Senator Tom Davis of Beaufort introduced bill S.910 that will legislate these changes. Two Senate subcommittee hearings have been held and a third will be held on January 24th at 9am in Columbia.
The Alliance is hosting a community advocacy event in Beaufort on Saturday, January 27th, and the new senate bill will be discussed in detail. The event is from 10 until 1 and lunch will be served. There is no cost to attend, but we are asking people to register so we have a headcount for lunch. This event will be held at the USC Beaufort Center for the Arts in Room 102.
I invite all your viewers to look at our website - scfairlending.org. We have a lot of information about our work and there are a number of recent articles that have been in the press about the new bill.
On the home page of our website, there is a form you can complete to send your Senator a message about the need for reform. Our Senators need to hear from us, and this is an easy way to lift your voice.
Susan Stall, Lead Organizer
SC Fair Lending Alliance
864-430-0637
http://www.SCFairLending.org
WHHI Daily News Anchor: Ally McNair
January 2024
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