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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

KY Group Calls for Law to Cap Payday Loans

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Monday, July 27, 2009   

FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending, representing 45 interest groups, is asking the state General Assembly to enact legislation that would cap interest rates on so-called payday loans at 36 percent. Kip Bomar of Community Action Kentucky says families need protection from the high price of predatory small loans that are so prevalent in Kentucky.

"Most loan businesses in Kentucky can only charge 36 percent interest. Check-cashing businesses, which make payday loans, can charge 15 percent interest every two weeks; that amounts to about 391 percent a year."

Bowmar cites the case of a Frankfort woman who refinanced a loan, had to refinance again, and in 18 months had paid almost 2,000 dollars - ten times what she had borrowed.

"In the space of a month, someone can become cash-strapped very quickly, and then a debt spiral could begin that people have a difficult time getting out of."

The payday loan industry counters that it provides a valuable service, which has high costs that require high fees. Kentuckians pay $131 million annually in fees to payday lenders.

Fifteen other states have successfully enacted interest rate caps, and a promising development for the coalition was Governor Steve Beshear's commitment to work on implementing the rate cap in the 2010 legislation session.


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