Category Archives: State Legislative Updates

*State Veterans Legislative Update 28 March 2016: SB 1316 S/E

Subject for use on the Email to be forwarded: I Need Your Help

Predatory Lending Bill SB 1316 Passed in the Arizona House of Representatives by 31 to 26 with 3 not voting late on 21 March. There was an attempt to place it on the 22 March Caucus calendar but it was withheld by the chairperson to provide more time for the Senators get up to speed on the details.

We sent a fairly detailed 22 March Email to all Senators with the major details to help in that process and in anticipation of it appearing real soon on a Senate calendar, urging them to vote against SB 1316 when it does come up for a vote.

After the long Easter weekend it has been suddenly placed on the Senate Caucus Calendar for tomorrow 29 March. Please consider sending the draft message at the end of this Email to all Arizona Senators ASAP this evening or early tomorrow per the instructions shown below.

I am using a new Subject: “I Need Your Help” for the message to be forwarded to hopefully preclude some Pro-SB 1316 Senators from deleting the Email even before glancing at it, as was the case with several of them who received our 22 March Email and seeing the SB 1316 Subject line. You may use a different Subject line, or just use SB 1316 if you wish.

NOTE: If you get any responses to the last sentence in the draft message, send them the 22 March Email or forward their Email to me and I will send them the 22 March Email.

_______________________________________________________________________

Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona Senate:

Senate Addresses With Commas:

You might want to print this Email now to have the instructions below

available to facilitate using this process.

Guidance for processing and sending your Email.

When you are ready to forward the Message at the end of this text to all members of the Senate:

Click on “Forward” from this message so that the attachment will be included with the message that will then be ready for final processing for sending. (Note: Clicking on “Forward” doesn’t send the message. It only sets it up to complete the processes below before hitting “Send”).
Then delete the Subject line of the new message, and copy: I need your help here or at the beginning of the text of this Email and paste it on the Subject line.
Edit the message that appears just below the blue line below if desired, and enter your name (and retired Rank if you are a Military Retiree) after the word ‘Respectfully‘ at the end of the message. Enter your address if desired, but that might tend to make the Representatives or their staff to delete your message if you are not a constituent before they read at least the first paragraph in the message. Consider just adding something like ”Concerned Arizona Veteran” after your name and rank. If you are a constituent of one of the Senators, in addition to sending this Email to all Senate Members, please consider calling your Senator’s office with your concerns. Go to or click on www.azleg.govhere. At that site, click on Senate and then on Members on the drop down menu) to find their phone numbers.

Copy Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona Senate:above (high light the addresses of all 30 members and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’ simultaneously), and paste it on the Bcc: line (put your cursor on the Bcc: line above and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ simultaneously.

NOTE:

If you have problems with your system not allowing so many address at one time, break the group down into two groups for use in sending the message to those two groups.

And if your system rejects the use of Semi-colons separating the addresses, follow the above process using the group of addresses separated by Commas as shown above.

Now High Light the blue line shown below (place your curser just below the blue line) and sweep upward across everything above it.
Then hit “Delete” on your keyboard . That will leave just the Draft Message that now appears below the blue line as the text of your new Email.
Then when you feel comfortable that you have completed all the steps correctly, and have added your name at the end of the message, you can hit “Send” to send your Email.

Draft Message

Dear Senator,

Please stand with Senator Kinberly Yee and Senator Gail Griffin and other Republicans and Democrat colleagues in nonpartisan voting against the SB 1316 Strike Everything (S/E) predatory lending bill. Usurious predatory lending industry business model 180% and 204% annual percentage rate (APR) interest loans resulting in over $10,000 in payments on a $2500 loan over 2 years and over $2000 in payments on a $500 loan over 2 years are unacceptable under any circumstances. See Page 2 of the attached amortization table for an example.

Senator Yee defied political correctness and voted her conscious on 10 February to defeat predecessor Bill SB 1447. I urge you to stand up to the predatory lenders and their lobbyists and vote your conscience against SB 1316 S/E that got through the House in a very partisan manner. It is not a partisan issue. It affects everyone the same. And there are already better options available for help during urgent financial needs. They include charitable organizations like the St. Vincent DePaul Society, Veteran organizations such as VFW Posts and the Boots for Our Troops Foundation, the AZ Department of Veterans’ Services Military Family Relief Fund (MFRF) available for Post 9/11 Veterans, etc.

Don’t let your name appear as a YES on SB 1316 S/E along with those who have been so adversely influenced by the powerful no holds barred predatory lending industry lobbyists over the past couple of months. Senator Kimberly Yee, who voted her conscience, withstood the false targeting by the predatory lending industry and constituents and others have lauded her for it. Please stand up to the predatory Lending industry lobbyists and vote your conscience and let your name appear as a NO on SB 1316S/E. Show Veterans across the state and your constituents where you stand in protecting the financially vulnerable among us from the usurious predatory lending industry.

And if you would like more detail on this issue, take a look at one the Emails that we sent to you on 22 March. And if you and/or your staff may have inadvertently deleted all of them, reply to this Email and request that a copy be resent and I will get one to you.

Respectfully,

2016 AZ SB 1316 CFA Facsheet

*State Veterans Legislative Update 22 March 2016: SB 1316 S/E

Subject for use on the Email to be forwarded: S.B. 1316 S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’

Predatory Lending Bill SB 1316 Passed in the House by 31 to 26 with 3 not voting on 21 March.

Now it will be up for a Floor vote in the Arizona Senate at any time. Please consider sending the message at the end of this Email to all Arizona Senators ASAP per the instructions shown below.

Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona Senate:

Senate Addresses With Commas:

You might want to print this Email now to have the instructions below

available to facilitate using this process.

Guidance for processing and sending your Email.

When you are ready to forward the Message at the end of this text to all members of the Senate:

Click on “Forward”from this message so that the attachment will be included with the message that will then be ready for final processing for sending. (Note: Clicking on “Forward” doesn’t send the message. It only sets it up to complete the processes below before hitting “Send”).
Then delete the Subject line of the new message, and copy: S.B. 1316: S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’ here or at the beginning of the text of this Email and paste it on the Subject line.
Edit the message that appears just below the blue line below if desired, and enter your name (and retired Rank if you are a Military Retiree) after the word ‘Respectfully‘ at the end of the message. Enter your address if desired, but that might tend to make the Representatives or their staff to delete your message if you are not a constituent before they read at least the first paragraph in the message. Consider just adding something like ”Concerned Arizona Veteran” after your name and rank. If you are a constituent of one of the Senators, in addition to sending this Email to all Senate Members, please consider calling your Senator’s office with your concerns. Go to or click on www.azleg.govhere. At that site, click on Senate and then on Members on the drop down menu) to find their phone numbers.

Copy Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona Senate:above (high light the addresses of all 30 members and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’ simultaneously), and paste it on the Bcc: line (put your cursor on the Bcc: line above and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ simultaneously.

NOTE:

If you have problems with your system not allowing so many address at one time, break the group down into two groups for use in sending the message to those two groups.

And if your system rejects the use of Semi-colons separating the addresses, follow the above process using the group of addresses separated by Commas as shown above.

Now High Light the blue line shown below (place your curser just below the blue line) and sweep upward acrosseverything above it.
Then hit “Delete” on your keyboard . That will leave just the Draft Message that now appearsbelow the blue line as the text of your new Email.
7.Then when you feel comfortable that you have completed all the steps correctly, and have added your name at the end of the message, you can hit “Send” to send your Email.

Draft Message

Dear Senator,

Senator Kimberly Yee was key to defeating SB 1447 in committee in the Senate when she stood by her convictions, and in opposition to political correctness, to vote against that predatory lending Bill on10 February, only to subsequently be targeted by lobbyists and the lending industry as being anti-business and against free enterprise which we all know is not so. Please stand by Senator Yee’s opposition to SB 1447 with your own convictions to vote (when it hits the Senate Floor) against the strike everything SB 1316 S/E: consumer lending; regulations; licensure bill that was the vehicle to carry that predatory lending, so called ‘flexible credit loan’ bill, through numerous political correctness votes in the House and subsequent forwarding to the Senate on 21 March. It’s time to move away from political correctness, and stand up to the lobbyists and lending industry. Please consider your constituency views on the issue, and independently assess the insidious nature of the lending industry business model that is hidden in SB 1316 S/E. Below is a brief summary of pertinent detail to help refresh your memory on that aspect of this issue.

First, some believe that 15% and 17% interest per month for secured loans and unsecured loans respectively as reflected in the Bill seems reasonable. What they forget is that those monthly rates equates to 180% and 204% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) respectfully, and that is not mentioned anywhere in the Bill. And that is not reasonable under any circumstances.

And then there is the insidious nature of the minimal initial principle payment on the loan and the huge impact it has on the resulting interest accumulation over the 24 monthly payments allowed by the legislation.

For example, on an unsecured $2500 loan, at 17% per month interest (204% APR) as allowed by SB1316, the first monthly interest payment will be $425 and the first monthly principle payment will be $10.05. That $10.05 initial principle payment, when added to the first month’s interest payment ($425) becomes the total monthly loan payment ($435.05) that remains constant over the term of the loan.

That minimal initial principle payment ($10.05) is automatically determined in the loan amortization process such that increasing it incrementally each month by the amount that the interest payment decreases (to keep the monthly loan payments constant) cumulatively adds up to the $2500 amount of the original loan with the last loan payment.

But due to the predatory nature of this business model where monthly loan payments remain at $435.05 through all 24 payments, even with the monthly interest payments decreasing each month (because of the monthly principle payments) the interest on the loan will accumulate to over $7,900 over the 24 month term of the loan. That’s over three times the amount of the $2500 loan. See Page 2 of the attached.

While the small initial monthly principle payment (beginning at $10.05) benefits the borrower by keeping the monthly payments to a minimum, it’s that huge cumulative $7900 interest payment that is the insidious nature of the predatory lending industry business model.

And it’s a similar situation with a $500 unsecured loan over 24 months. The initial monthly principle payment would only be $2.01 (one fifth of what is required on a $2500 loan). That results in about $1,600 in interest payments over the 24 month term of the $500 loan. That, like on a $2500 loan, is over 3 times the amount of the loan.

And here is why the lenders business model will not encourage starting off with a higher principle payment. For example, if the initial principle payment were increased to $20.05on a $2500 loan, instead of $10.05, the total interest over 24 months would decrease by about $1600. And on a $500 loan if the initial principle payment were to be $10.01,for example instead of the normal $2.01, the loan would be paid off in 15 months. And the total interest payment over that time period would only be about $860. That’s only about one half of what it would be if the loan started with a $2.01 initial principle payment and was paid off over 24 months. Similar scenarios result for any loan amount whenever the initially required monthly principle payments are increased.

And with that lending industry business model we won’t see them encouraging beginning with a higher initial principle payment or early payoff of the loan balance. That’s because they would reduce the total amount of interest to be paid over the 24 month or shorter period of the loan. So it is definitely in the interest of the lender to have the payments extended over 24 months as allowed by the Bill, starting off with the resulting relatively small monthly principle payments that, of course, is intended to appear to be in the interest of the borrower. But it is primarily to the benefit of the lender, as part of their business model, to see a minimal initial principle payment and payback extended over 24 months as allowed by the Bill. So, with this business model, you can be assured that the lender will not be encouraging a larger initial principle payment or early pay off of the loan or offering lower percent per month interest rates. And while it’s usually beneficial to bring new industry to Arizona, as House leadership has been advocating as a major reason to support SB 1316, we don’t need this kind of predatory lending business in Arizona.

Please join me and other concerned Arizona citizens and probably most of your constituents in opposing SB1316.

Respectfully

2016 AZ SB 1316 CFA Facsheet

*AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 19 March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 on Predatory Lending

Subject for use on the Email to be forwarded: S.B. 1316 S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’

Predatory Lending Bill SB 1316 S/E is scheduled for a House ‘Third Reading Calendar’ vote on Monday 21 March. If it passes in a roll call vote it will then be forwarded to the Senate for a final vote. Let’s see if we can help in keeping that from happening.

I have a short message at the end of this Email that is recommended for forwarding to all members of the Arizona House of Representatives.

Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives:

House Addresses With Commas:

You might want to print this Email now to have the instructions below
available to facilitate using this process.
Guidance for processing and sending your Email.

When you are ready to forward the Message at the end of this text to all members of the House of Representatives:

1. Click on “Forward” from this message so that the attachment will be included with the message that will then be ready for final processing for sending. (Note: Clicking on “Forward” doesn’t send the message. It only sets it up to complete the processes below before hitting “Send”).
2. Then delete the Subject line of the new message, and copy: S.B. 1316: S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’ here or at the beginning of the text of this Email and paste it on the Subject line. Or simplify the subject if desired; e.g., just “SB 1316”, “Predatory Lending”, “Your Help is Needed”, etc.
3. The message to be forwarded appears below the blue line below, where it can be edited if desired. Then enter your name (and retired Rank if you are a Military Retiree) after the word ‘Respectfully,’ at the end of the message. Enter your address if desired, but that might tend to make the Representatives or their staff to delete your message if you are not a constituent before they at least scan the message. Consider just adding something like ”Concerned Veteran and Citizen” after your name and rank. If you are a constituent of one of the Representatives, in addition to sending this Email to all House Members, please consider calling your Representative’s office with your concerns Go to or click on www.azleg.gov here. At that site, click on House and then on Members on the drop down menu) to find their phone numbers.
4. Copy the Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives: above (high light the addresses of all 60 members and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’ simultaneously), and paste it on the Bcc: line (put your cursor on the Bcc: line above and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ simultaneously.
NOTE:
If you have problems with your system not allowing so many address at one time, break the list down into two or more groups for use in sending the message to those two or more groups.
And if your system rejects the use of Semi-colons separating the addresses, follow the above process using the group of addresses separated by Commas.
5. Now High Light the blue line shown below (place your curser just below the blue line) and sweep upward across everything above it.
6. Then hit “Delete” on your keyboard . That will leave just the Draft Message that now appears below the blue line as the text of your new Email.
7. Then when you feel comfortable that you have completed all the steps correctly, you can hit “Send” to send your Email.

Draft Message

Honorable State Representative

In 2008, 60% of Arizona voters overwhelmingly voted against predatory payday lending in spite of the industry spending almost $15 million in their attempt to keep it in Arizona.

SB 1316 would authorize closed-end “Consumer Flex Loans” with interest rates exceeding 200 percent annual percentage rate (APR)– the exact type of predatory lending voters overwhelmingly rejected in 2008. See Page 2 of the attached for an example of how these loans are paid off and how much interest is paid over the term of the loan.

The current bill pushed by in and out-of-state loan companies is lobbyist driven – in fact, one of the bill’s prime sponsors said on the floor of the House of Representatives that not a single constituent had asked him to support this bill.

To underscore how onerous the predatory loans that will be permitted by this bill are, it restricts members of active duty military and their families and Guard and Reserve members while on active duty from receiving these loans. The debt trap created by these loans could have adverse impact on national security if made to active duty service members. But, yet the industry asserts that this debt trap is good for everyone else.

Setting politics aside, I urge you to independently consider the issues involved and consider your constituents’ concerns with this issue in rejecting and urging your colleagues to reject this subversion of the will of Arizona voters and profiteering at the expense of Arizona’s financially vulnerable citizens.

It is not the Arizona way to allow lenders to enrich themselves off the misfortune of others.

I urge you to vote NO on SB 1316 during the currently scheduled Third Reading Calendar on Monday 21 March.

Respectfully,

2016 AZ SB 1316 CFA Facsheet

AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 17 March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 on Predatory Lending

M1 Subject for use on the Email to be forwarded: S.B. 1316 S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’

Predatory Lending Bill SB 1316 may come up for a Floor vote in the Arizona House of Representatives at any time. Please consider sending the message at the end of this Email to all Arizona Representatives ASAP per the instructions shown below.

Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives:

House Addresses With Commas:

You might want to print this Email now to have the instructions below
available to facilitate using this process.
Guidance for processing and sending your Email.

When you are ready to forward the Message at the end of this text to all members of the House of Representatives:

4. Copy Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives: above (high light the addresses of all 60 members and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’ simultaneously), and paste it on the Bcc: line (put your cursor on the Bcc: line above and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ simultaneously.
NOTE:
If you have problems with your system not allowing so many address at one time, break the group down into two or more groups for use in sending the message to those two or more groups.
And if your system rejects the use of Semi-colons separating the addresses, follow the above process using the group of addresses separated by Commas.
5. Now High Light the blue line shown below (place your curser just below the blue line) and sweep upward across everything above it.
6. Then hit “Delete” on your keyboard . That will leave just the Draft Message that now appears below the blue line as the text of your new Email.
7. Then when you feel comfortable that you have completed all the steps correctly, you can hit “Send” to send your Email.

Draft Message

Honorable State Representative

Various Committee/Caucus testimony on SB 1316 continues to be along party lines with primarily numerous Democrats commenting on the predatory nature of the Bill, and the Bill sponsor or spokesman and very few Republicans citing the lobbyist, lending industry, and leadership mantra on their view as to the need for the legislation. It’s time to consider constituency views on the issue and to independently assess the insidious aspects of the lending industry business model that is hidden in SB 1316 instead of mostly voting on it along party lines, as appears to be happening to date. I urge you to review the following summary of pertinent detail in case some of it might be eye opening to you.

First is the widely known180% to 204% annual percentage rates (APR) that is not directly mentioned in the Bill.

And then there is the insidious nature of the minimal initial principle payment on the loan and the impact it has on the resulting interest accumulation over the 24 monthly payments allowed by the legislation.

For example, on an unsecured $2500 loan, at 17% per month interest (204% APR) as allowed by SB1316, the first monthly interest payment will be $425 and the first monthly principle payment will be $10.05. That $10.05 initial principle payment, when added to the first month’s interest payment ($425) becomes the total monthly loan payment ($435.05) that remains constant over the term of the loan.

That minimal initial principle payment ($10.05) is automatically determined in the loan amortization process such that increasing it incrementally each month by the amount that the interest payment decreases (to keep the loan payments constant) cumulatively adds up to the $2500 amount of the original loan with the last loan payment.

But due to the predatory nature of this business model where monthly loan payments remain at $435.05 through all 24 payments, even with the monthly interest payments decreasing each month (because of the monthly principle payments) the interest on the loan will accumulate to over $7,900 over the 24 month term of the loan. That’s over three times the amount of the $2500 loan. See Page 2 of the attached.

While the small initial monthly principle payment (beginning at $10.05) benefits the borrower by keeping the monthly payments to a minimum, it’s that huge cumulative $7900 interest payment that is the insidious nature of the predatory lending industry business model.

And it’s a similar situation with a $500 unsecured loan over 24 months. The initial monthly principle payment would only be $2.01 (one fifth of what is required on a $2500 loan). That results in about $1,600 in interest payments over the 24 month term of the $500 loan. That, like on a $2500 loan, is over 3 times the amount of the loan.

And here is why the lenders business model will not encourage starting off with a higher principle payment. For example, if the initial principle payment were increased to $20.05 on a $2500 loan, instead of $10.05, the total interest over 24 months would decrease by about $1600. And on a $500 loan if the initial principle payment were to be $10.01,for example instead of the normal $2.01, the loan would be paid off in 15 months. And the total interest payment over that time period would only be about $860. That’s only about one half of what it would be if the loan started with a $2.01 initial principle payment and was paid off over 24 months. Similar scenarios result for any loan amount whenever the initially required monthly principle payments are increased.

And with that lending industry business model we won’t see them encouraging beginning with a higher initial principle payment or early payoff of the loan balance. That’s because it would reduce the total amount of interest to be paid over the 24 month or shorter period of the loan. So it is definitely in the interest of the lender to have the payments extended over 24 months as allowed by the Bill, starting off with the resulting relatively small monthly principle payments that, of course, is intended to appear to be in the interest of the borrower. But it is primarily to the benefit of the lender, as part of their business model, to see a minimal initial principle payment and payback extended over 24 months as allowed by the Bill. So, with this business model, you can be assured that the lender will not be encouraging a larger initial principle payment or early pay off of the loan or offering lower percent per month interest rates. And while it’s usually beneficial to bring new industry to Arizona, as some of your leadership are advocating as a major reason to support SB 1316, we don’t need this kind of predatory lending business in Arizona.

Please join me and other concerned Arizona citizens and probably most of your constituents in opposing SB1316.

Respectfully,

2016 AZ SB 1316 CFA Facsheet

*AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 15March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 – Predatory Lending

Subject for use on Email to be forwarded: S.B. 1316 S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’

SB 1316 is being heard in the House Council of the Whole (COW) today at 1315 Today

Please consider sending the message at the end of this Email to all House Members ASAP

Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives:

House Addresses With Commas:

You might want to print this Email now to have the instructions below available to facilitate using this process.
Guidance for processing and sending your Email.

When you are ready to forward the Message at the end of this text to all members of the House of Representatives:

4. Copy Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives: above (high light the addresses of all 60 members and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’ simultaneously), and paste it on the Bcc: line (put your cursor on the Bcc: line above and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ simultaneously.
NOTE:
If you have problems with your system not allowing so many address at one time, break the group down into two or more groups for use in sending the message to those two or more groups.
And if your system rejects the use of Semi-colons separating the addresses, follow the above process with the group of addresses separated by Commas.
5. Now High Light the blue line shown below (place your curser just below the blue line) and sweep upward across everything above it.
6. Then hit “Delete” on your keyboard . That will leave just the Draft Message that now appears below the blue line as the text of your new Email.
7. Then when you feel comfortable that you have completed all the steps correctly, you can hit “Send” to send your Email.

Draft Message

Honorable State Representative

I wonder how many are aware of the whole story on the lending industry business model that is hidden in SB 1316, beyond the exorbitant 180% to 204% annual percentage rates (APR) that has been discussed extensively but is not directly mentioned in the Bill? There’s at least one other issue.

That issue is the nature of the minimal initial principle payment on the loan and the impact it has on the resulting interest accumulation over the 24 monthly payments allowed by the legislation.

That minimal initial principle payment ($10.05) is automatically determined in the loan amortization process such that increasing it incrementally each month by the amount that the interest payment decreases (to keep the loan payments constant) cumulatively adds up to the amount of the original loan ($2500 in this case) with the last loan payment.

But due to the predatory nature of this business model where monthly payments remain at $435.05 through all 24 payments, even with the monthly interest payments decreasing each month (because of the monthly principle payments), the interest on the loan will accumulate to $7,941.15 over the 24 month term of the loan. That’s over three times the amount of the $2500 loan. See Page 2 of the attached.

While the small initial monthly principle payment beginning at $10.05 benefits the borrower by keeping the monthly payments to a minimum, it’s that huge cumulative $7941.15 interest payment that is the insidious nature of the predatory lending industry business model.

And it’s a similar situation with a $500 unsecured loan over 24 months. The initial monthly principle payment would only be $2.01 (one fifth of what is required on a $2500 loan). But that results in about $1,600 in interest payments over the 24 month term of the $500 loan. That, like on a $2500 loan, is over 3 times the amount of the loan.

And here is why the lenders business model would not encourage starting off with a higher principle payment. For example, if the initial principle payment were increased to $20.05 on a $2500 loan, instead of $10.05, the total interest over 24 months would decrease by about $1600. And on a $500 loan if the initial principle payment were to be $10.01,instead of the normal $2.01, the loan would be paid off in 15 months. And the total interest payment over that time period would only be about $860. That’s only about one half of what it would be if the loan started with a $2.01 initial principle payment and was paid off over 24 months. Similar scenarios result for any loan amount when the initially required monthly principle payments are increased.

So with that lending industry business model we won’t see them encouraging beginning with a higher initial principle payment or early payoff of the loan balance. That’s because it would reduce the total amount of interest to be paid over the 24 month or shorter period of the loan. So it is definitely in the interest of the lender to have the payments extended over 24 months as allowed by the Bill, starting off with the resulting relatively small monthly principle payments that, of course, is intended to appear to be in the interest of the borrower. But it is primarily to the benefit of the lender, as part of their business model, to see the minimal initial principle payment and the payback extended over 24 months as allowed by the Bill. So I believe, with this business model, you can be assured that the lender will not be encouraging a larger initial principle payment or early pay off of the loan or offering lower percent per month interest rates. And while it would be nice to bring new industry to Arizona, as some of your leadership are advocating as a major reason to support SB 1316, we don’t need this kind of predatory lending business in Arizona.

Please join me and other concerned Arizona citizens and probably most of your constituents in opposing SB1316.

Respectfully

AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 7 March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 – Predatory Lending

Subject S.B. 1316 S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’

SB 1316 passed in the House Ways & Means Committee meeting in a very partisan manner at about 7:15 PM on 29 February after over two hours of discussion and testimony where the Bill’s Sponsor, Lobbyists, Loan Industry Representatives and a Minister provided their rationale for the need for this legislation to help some of the most vulnerable of our citizens when in fact it is an outrageous debt trap for the victims and a boon for the lending industry.

And the Bill passed 7-1-0-1-0 in the House Rules Committee today (7 March) which was just a formality. However, it is now expected to appear on a House Caucus agenda and/or for a Floor vote in the next day or so where there will be no public input allowed for either. So we need to urge all of our State Representatives to oppose this issue NOW!! Please do so this afternoon or evening if possible.

I don’t believe that I need to further recap this now widely publicized issue, So below is the process for forwarding a brief Email (shown below) urging all Sate Representatives to vote against SB 1316 in Caucus and/or when it hits the House floor.

Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives:

You might want to print this Email now to have the instructions below available to facilitate using this process.

Guidance for processing and sending your Email.

When you are ready to forward the Message at the end of this text to all members of the House of Representatives:

Click on “Forward”from this message so that the attachment will be included with the message that will then be ready for final processing for sending. (Note: Clicking on “Forward” doesn’t send the message. It only sets it up to complete the processes below before hitting “Send”).
Then delete the Subject line of the new message, and copy: S.B. 1316: S/E: ‘consumer lending; regulation, licensure’ here or at the beginning of the text of this Email and paste it on the Subject line.
Edit the message that appears below the blue line below if desired, and enter your name (and retired Rank if you are a Military Retiree) after the word ‘Respectfully‘ at the end of the message. Enter your address if desired, but that might tend to make the Representatives or their staff to delete your message if you are not a constituent before they read at least the first sentence in the message. Consider just adding something like ”Concered Veteran and Citizen” after your name and rank. If you are a constituent of one of the Representatives, in addition to sending this Email to all of Committee Members, please consider calling your Representative’s office with your concerns Go to or click on www.azleg.govhere. At that site, click on House and then on Members on the drop down menu) to find their phone numbers.

Copy Email addresses with Semi-colons for all members of the Arizona House of Representatives:above (high light the addresses of all 60 members and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’ simultaneously), and paste it on the Bcc: line (put your cursor on the Bcc: line above and then hit ‘Ctrl’ and ‘V’ simultaneously.

NOTE:

If you have problems with your system not allowing so many address at one time, break the group down into two or more groups for use in sending the message to those two or more groups.

And if your system rejects the use of Semi-colons separating the addresses, follow the above process with the group of addresses separated by Commas.

Now High Light the blue line shown below (place your curser just below the blue line) and sweep upward acrosseverything above it.
Then hit “Delete” on your keyboard . That will leave just the Draft Message that now appearsbelow the blue line as the text of your new Email.
7.Then when you feel comfortable that you have completed all the steps correctly, you can hit “Send” to send your Email.

Draft Message

Honorable State Representative,

In an earlier Email I urged you to vote NO on SB 1316 as it would provide lenders a new tool called a ‘Flexible Credit Loan’ that would enable them to charge up to 180% to 204% annual percentage rate on debt trap type consumer loans. And I cited an example that on a $2500 loan (the max allowed by the Legislation) with minimal principle pay back to keep monthly payments to a minimum (as is usually the case), it would require the borrower to make payments totaling over $2500 over the first six months (of the 2 years allowed by the Legislation) while reducing the amount owed on the principle by less than $100 and still owe over $7500 in payments on the loan, as revealed for an example on page 2 of the attached.

In Section 6-1809 on Page 14, the Bill requires lenders to “REPORT THE LICENSEE’S AVERAGE ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE” computed pursuant to the truth in lending act. But no place in the Bill does it mention what the maximum “Annual Percentage Rate” is.

Only at Section 6-1832. Finance charges, on Page 20 near the end of the 21 Page document (and as shown below) does the text give a hint (not readily apparent to many) as to what that ‘Annual Percentage Rate’ is. There it says:

A LICENSEE MAY CONTRACTFOR AND RECEIVE FINANCE CHARGES ON A FLEXIBLE CREDIT LOAN THAT DOES NOT EXCEED THE FOLLOWING IF THE ORIGINAL PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF THE FLEXIBLE CREDIT LOAN IS AT LEAST FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS BUT NOT MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS:
A RATE OF SEVENTEEN PERCENT PER MONTHIF UNSECURED.
A RATE OF FIFTEEN PERCENT PER MONTHIF SECURED WITH PERSONAL PROPERTY.
A LICENSEE MAY NOT COMPOUND FINANCE CHARGES.

And these PERCENT PER MONTH rates equate respectively to 204% (17% X 12 Months) and 180% (15% X 12 Months) annual percentage rates.

That’s exactly the kind of abusive predatory debt trap lending that this S.B. 1316 Strike Everything Bill would allow. Since 2008, when “Payday Loans” with outrages annual percentage rates were prohibited in Arizona, lenders and their lobbyists have been trying to evade the voters’ by seeking out loopholes. Now these lenders again want approval to charge outrageous interest rates, and we can’t let them do that. Arizona does not need this! There are alternatives.

The St. Vincent de Paul’s Society is a leading example among charitable organization across the State that do a great deal of work with those in need of temporary financial help. Those in need would be much better off using their kind of financial assistance to preclude getting into deeper debt and becoming a potential victim of a debt trap lender that would be authorized by this legislation. And some organization such as VFW Posts, DAV Chapters, the Boots for Our Troops Foundation offers similar assistance to Veterans in need of temporary financial assistance, as does the Arizona Military Family Relief Fund (MFRF) that provides similar support for Post 9/11 Veterans and their families in need of temporary financial help.

These are certainly preferred alternatives for those in desperate financial need becoming a victim of death trap predatory lending, and for minimizing or even eliminating the exorbitantly profitable market for such. And in conjunction with these alternatives, this bill is adamantly opposed by the Catholic Conference, the Cooperative Baptist Church, the National Association of Evangelicals, and pastors across AZ.

So I urge you to vote NO on S.B.1316 and any other potential Strike Everything bill on this subject where ever and whenever it may appear on your Legislative agenda. Arizona doesn’t need this kind of predatory debt trap landing under any circumstances.

And I urge you to be speak out against SB 1316, and encourage your colleagues to do the same, and please don’t let yourself feel bullied or intimidated if the lending industry is targeting you as not supporting business or free enterprise, because I assure you that we know that’s not so. Please continue to speak out in any and all available forums with your logical rationale for doing so. Let the public know what’s going on in the Legislature.

And if you are one who has voted for the bill in committee or one who is currently planning to vote yes at the first opportunity, and are personally or collectively being praised by the lending industry for supporting business or free enterprise, I suggest that you ask yourself how your constituents will view your advocacy for bringing back predatory payday-like debt trap lending to Arizona with 180% to 204% annual percentage rates.

Respectfully,

MOAA CORONADO – MOAA 5 STAR LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE AWARD AND FIVE STAR COMMUNICATIONS AWARD FOR 2023

Sierra Vista, Arizona

Category Archives: State Legislative Updates

*State Veterans Legislative Update 28 March 2016: SB 1316 S/E

*State Veterans Legislative Update 22 March 2016: SB 1316 S/E

*AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 19 March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 on Predatory Lending

AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 17 March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 on Predatory Lending

*AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 15March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 – Predatory Lending

AZ State Veterans Legislative Update 7 March 2016: S/E S.B. 1316 – Predatory Lending