Payday Loan Report

Payday Advance Interest Rate Capped At 36% For Servicemembers

This kind of policy may bring unintended results. Like minimal-wage law, this maximum-rate law will discourage payday loan providers to underwrite more loans for servicemembers of the country. And at the end of the day, those who are underpaid by DoD will have one less way to get relief.

Consumer loans to servicemembers will be limited to 36% annual interest next year under a law President Bush signed Tuesday that is aimed at store-front lenders clustered around military bases.
The law is a response to "payday advance" stores that market short-term loans, typically charging $15 or $20 per $100 loan for periods of up to two weeks or a borrowers' next payday. Borrowers generally renew loans several times before paying them off, and the fees result in effective annual interest rates of 400% or more, a Defense Department study concluded.

Congress approved the limits before adjournment this month. Bush signed it into law as part of a larger defense bill.

Military officers pushed for the law, saying the loans saddled low-paid enlisted men and women with debts that ruined their finances, jeopardized security clearances and left them unable to deploy to Iraq or other assignments.