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36% Rate Cap Coming Wednesday; Brennan Unfazed

Steve Hildebrand gets to spike the ball. Unbowed and unbeaten by the vile and false attacks of his big-money opponents, the co-sponsor of Initiated Measure 21 celebrates the impending enactment of his successful push to cap payday loan rates at 36% and encourages other states to follow our example:

Wednesday, November 16, 2016.

On that day, the interest rate on a payday loan in South Dakota will go from an average of 574% to NO MORE THAN 36%.

Our ballot initiative passed with 75% of the vote and the fake amendment put forward by the predatory lending industry failed with 63%.

This is a solid win – and frankly larger than we expected.

I am so proud to have Co-Chaired this bi-partisan effort with Republican Steve Hickey and our team of Reynold Nesiba, Kate Monson, Cathy Brectelsbauer, the AARP and virtually every religious denomination in South Dakota. We owe special thanks to all who circulated and signed our petitions, The Presentation Sisters for all of their hard work, The Center for Responsible Lending and to our donors who helped fund our petition drive and direct voter communications.

On November 16, low-income South Dakotans seeking emergency cash will no longer be set-up in a cycle of debt due to the extraordinary lending practices of the payday lending industry.

If consumers are being hurt in your state, please look at ways to reform this industry.

My heart is filled with joy that we were able to win this for low-income families here in South Dakota [Steven C. Hildebrand, Facebook post, 2016.11.10].

Meanwhile, Trumpist (why am I not surprised?) payday loan shark Chuck Brennan says the 36% rate cap won’t shut down his Dollar Loan Centers:

His business has about 25,000 customers in South Dakota, but he calls it a small part of Dollar Loan Center’s portfolio.

“It’s probably 5 percent of our business,” Brennan said. “I donate more to charity in South Dakota than I make in South Dakota” [Jodi Schwan, “Chuck Brennan on Payday Lending Measure: We Are Not Closing,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2016.11.09].

At least, come next Wednesday, Brennan won’t be making his money on 574% loans to South Dakotans.

18 Comments

  1. moses six 2016-11-10 15:57

    So the captains loan factory went down good riddance and take bad lands pawn with you >Move it out to your race track.

  2. W R Old Guy 2016-11-10 17:10

    I’ll withhold the celebration until the law actually goes into effect. It would not surprise me to see a lawsuit and request for an injunction based on a technicality.

  3. Donald Pay 2016-11-10 17:16

    Look, you can win the election and put the law on the books, but these crooks have lots of money, immense greed and huge egos. They can use their money to jam up any law in a corrupt and inefficient court system. I wouldn’t hold my breath that he hasn’t planned some way to delay or try to invalidate the vote or the law.

  4. Roger Cornelius 2016-11-10 21:08

    What South Dakota charities have Brennan donated to?

  5. clcjm 2016-11-11 01:15

    I wouldn’t be surprised if there were law suits filed. How does the Republican leadership feel about this law? Are they for or against? Just wondering if they will do like they did on the minimum wage last election even though this was a very bipartisan effort? They have no respect for the voters and I would assume it’s not any different on this issue.

  6. Big Guy 2016-11-11 06:48

    “It’s probably 5 percent of our business,” Brennan said. “I donate more to charity in South Dakota than I make in South Dakota”. Just 5%? I call BS on it, it’s more like 30%. Also, wanna bet he’ll cut back on his donating?

    In reply to Roger Cornelius: Here is the link his business make donations to: http://www.dontbebroke.com/dlc-advantage/community/. Sometimes I scratch my head on why the recipients are accepting, because I know they do know Chuck’s tactics…

  7. Rob 2016-11-11 12:50

    Your views about payday loans are skewed, the APR doesn’t, and should never have, been an issue here. A 10 day loan at 10% on $100 cost the customer $10. But the APR on that loan is 521%. One way to look at it seems cheap but the APR seems crazy. But the reality of it is if I need $100 today and there are no payday companies help me I am helpless. Try to go to a bank and get a $100 loan for $10, go ahead, even with your good credit. ALL payday loan companies will be going out of business next week no matter what the dollar loan center guy says. Thousands of South Dakotan’s will be unable to get a short term loan to help with an unexpected bill, groceries etc.

    Its always the one person that screws it for the rest of us.

  8. Larry 2016-11-11 18:06

    Now I have NO options when I need help. You didn’t cap the interest rates at 36%, you shut down the industry leaving myself and a lot of others out to dry.

  9. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-11-12 06:28

    Larry (not Kurtz, it appears), you have many options. Scrape together cash from friends or family. Put in some overtime. Ask your boss for an advance on your paycheck. Pawn your stereo. The options may be objectionable, but they are less objectionable than being trapped in inescapable debt by greedy out-of-state execs who suck cash out of our economy.

  10. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-11-12 08:38

    I wonder if Rob and Larry also complain that our laws against prostitution screws the thousands of South Dakotans who’d like to hire women for sex, or if they bemoan our anti-drug laws that stop addicts from getting their fix.

  11. Rob 2016-11-12 09:55

    The difference is sex and drugs are a want commodity, cash is a need. This industry is a need. The sad thing is, yes, there were loan companies that took advantage of the customers by putting them in way over their heads. But there are way more good news that needed to take care of there customers to survive. There are laws that could have taken place to prevent this but we decided to take the whole thing down because of some bad apples. Sad

  12. grudznick 2016-11-12 09:59

    I think what Mr. H is saying here is what I’ve always said about minimum wage or sub-average teachers whining about raises or unions: If you want more money, work harder.

  13. grudznick 2016-11-12 10:00

    It is a breath of air for Mr. H to finally see my point and agree with it.

  14. Roger Cornelius 2016-11-12 11:32

    Rob and Larry,
    Most banks, particularly community banks, offer money management accounts, if you have bad credit and can’t get a regular checking account you’d probably be eligible for a money management account that uses a debit card only.
    These accounts help you control your spending and help you to see where your money is spent. Many of these accounts do allow for small short term loans and the banks will show you how to repay them.
    Payday loan centers make it to easy to borrow money when there are solutions out there.

  15. grudznick 2016-11-12 11:41

    Mr. C, the solution is to just not spend what you don’t have. You are saying these people need a babysitter. A governor, so to speak. How now do we stop them from spending what money they have on 40 ounce malt beverages and scratch tickets? I think we need to ban those things unless you can show you have a line of credit with a real bank.

  16. Roger Cornelius 2016-11-12 12:20

    I will not demean poor people when they have a financial problems like unusually high medical bills, a broken down car or high utilities between paydays.
    Actually no one is babysitting them nor do they need a governor, what people do with their money is their business and the last thing they need is a lecture from a self-righteous republican.
    Enough of this talk abut prohibition about malt beverages and scratch tickets, South Dakota tried several times to ban gambling and it didn’t work and neither does prohibition of alcoholic beverages and marijuana.
    In fact any attempt to control people’s spending habits sounds very much like Trump’s fascism.

  17. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-02-11 20:38

    Thanks, O! I need to write that up… and we need to vote Trump out to protect the will of the people!

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