House Passes Car Title Loan Interest Cap Bill

From Radio Iowa:

The Iowa House Thursday night voted to crack down on so-called car title loans. Democrats say limiting the interest rates charged on such loans protects consumers, but some Republicans opposed the bill. Representative Jamie Van Fossen, a Republican from Davenport, says there's a demand for such loans by consumers who can't get credit elsewhere.

"My district borders Illinois. These people are just going to go across the river and get their loans," Van Fossen says. But Democrats like Representative Dave Jacoby... says charging more than three-hundred percent on a loan against your car is excessive and too many Iowans have lost their cars because of it. "...their only means to get into work," Jacoby says. "Their only means of getting their kids to school or day care."

...The bill would limit interest rates on car title loans to 21 percent.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which has approved similar measures before. In past years the car title loan bill stalled in the House, blocked by Republicans who said the industry was unfairly being targeted and served a class of consumers who cannot get loans elsewhere.

This is the biggest problem with so many post-Contract With America Republicans. They're fauxscal conservatives. They're phonies. They talk about conservatism, except when it comes to common sense fiscal matters.

Who in their right mind thinks 300%+ interest rates being charged on the poorest of the poor is a good idea? The only people who think this is a good idea either have a monopoly on the car-title loan industry in Iowa (Loanmax, a business with past ties to organized crime figures), or the disgusting, filthy, and diseased politicians who accept the dirty money from these scumbags in exchange to allow legalized loansharking.

Think about how far down the hole you have to be to resort to getting a car-title loan. This means you have:

1. No cash
2. No savings
3. Nothing in the checking account
4. You own no stocks
5. You own no mutual funds
6. You have no college savings accounts for your kids to tap
7. You have nothing in your 401K in which to borrow from
8. You have no IRA in which can take money from for 60 days, penalty-free.
   
9. You have no mortgage equity to tap.
   
10. You have no credit cards available.
    
11. You don't have anything to sell in a garage sale or on Ebay.
    
12. You don't have anything to pawn.
    
13. You can't get an advance from your employer.
    
14. Your welfare is spent.
    
15. And you have no friends, parents, or children who will loan you money.

That's pretty low.

And, to numerous Iowa statehouse Republicans, especially minority crybaby Christopher Rants, 300%+ interest rates is perfectly normal! Why, it should be celebrated! And promoted!

As I said before, if the Democratic majority of the Iowa Legislature passes and the governor signs this interest rate cap on car-title loans, which will wreck the monopoly "industry" within Iowa, it'll be worthwhile compared to all the other crap the Democrats will try to pull over the next two years. Protecting poor people used to be one of the things that Democrats did. They've gotten way the fuck off course lately, but at least on this issue they are actually helping poor people out by not letting them get into a situation that will bring further poverty, misery, and the possible loss of their car.

Meanwhile, you Republicans, especially you Konservatives, need to figure out your priorities and purge your party of the likes of Christopher Rants.