The Issue

The so-called Payday Loan “Reform” Act would allow the payday lenders to bleed hard-working Arizonans with 400% interest rates. Forever.

The payday lending industry doesn’t want you to know it, but when it comes to protecting your pocketbook at the ballot box this November - and TRULY cracking down on unscrupulous payday lenders - “no” will mean “yes.”

A “NO” vote on the payday industry’s Prop 200 will mean “yes” to capping payday loans at 36% interest once and for all.

THEY’RE TRYING TO BUY YOUR VOTE
Out-of-state payday lenders are trying to buy this election. They’re attempting to protect the $149 million a year they take from Arizonans in fees stripped from trapped borrowers. They already have poured more than $14.4 million into misleading advertisements and propaganda to promote Prop 200 – which would legalize their predatory interest rates - forever.

You’d never know from the advertisements that the payday lenders are the ones behind Prop 200 -
but they are. Here’s the latest example of their scheme to try to fool the voters:

Payday Lenders Launch Attack Ad… on THEMSELVES

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“Bad apples”???  The WHOLE INDUSTRY is BAD APPLES!  Prop 200 would mean rotten apples forever!

Listen to Attorney General Terry Goddard on why Prop 200 is NO REFORM!

The TRUTH is, the payday lenders are pushing Prop 200 in order to repeal the Arizona law that otherwise would force them to cap payday loan interest rates at 36% beginning in 2010.

If we DEFEAT Prop 200, their special deal, the one that allows them to ignore Arizona’s usury laws and charge 400% interest rates, will expire.

If we DEFEAT Prop 200, the payday lenders would have to either cap their rates at 36%, like every other consumer lender, or leave the state.

PAYDAY LOANS TRAP BORROWERS
Payday loans, which charge 400% interest, are structured to trap the borrower. Payday loans trap borrowers in long-term debt, with the average borrower needing to pay back nearly $800 on a $300 loan, after multiple loan renewals. That’s why to date, 15 states and the District of Columbia have ended predatory payday loans at triple-digit interest rates, enforcing interest caps of 36% or less.

In 2006, Congress outlawed payday loans above 36% interest to active duty members of the military, a measure supported by both John McCain and Barack Obama.

DON’T BELIEVE THE PAYDAY LENDERS
Like their business, their ballot measure is built on deception. They want voters to think Prop 200 would reform payday lending. In reality, Prop 200 would allow them to charge 400% interest rates forever AND gain electronic access to borrowers’ checking accounts!

That’s what they’re NOT telling you about their so-called “reform.”

It’s No Reform At All!

PROP 200 WOULD ALLOW 400% INTEREST RATES. FOREVER.

Defeating Prop 200 restores the Arizona Consumer Loan Act, capping interest rates at 36%. Period.

Join Governor Napolitano, Attorney General Goddard, Congressman Grijalva, Arizona AARP, The Arizona Republic and 11 other newspapers across the state, Bishop Minerva Carcaño, Bishop Kirk Smith, Bishop Gerald Kicanas, Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, Arizona Ecumenical Council, the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, East Valley Chambers of Commerce Alliance, WESTMARC, the Arizona Credit Union League, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Arizona Education Association, Valley of the Sun United Way, Children’s Action Alliance, Arizona Consumers’ Council, Arizona Community Action Association, Mi Familia Vota, Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Desert Mission Neighborhood Renewal, WHEAT, Little Chapel of All Nations, PAFCO, NAILEM, Arizona Hispanic Community Forum, Arizona Foundation for Women, Phoenix Mountains Republican Assembly, Arizona Democratic Party, Americans for Fairness in Lending, Consumer Federation of America, Center for Responsible Lending, the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity, Jim Pederson, Jim Click and business leaders across Arizona, more than 60 elected officials across the state … and many, many others in voting NO on Prop 200 November 4th.

NO on 200: IT’S NO REFORM AT ALL!