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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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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.

Warning Issued in Minnesota on Payday Lenders

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Wednesday, September 17, 2014   

MINNEAPOLIS - With many in the state still struggling in the wake of the recession, caution is being advised for those considering a payday lender.

According to the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota, the payday-loan industry continues to be problematic, whether it's brick-and-mortar - or online, where the risks include unauthorized withdrawals and identity theft. There also are the issues of hidden fees and exorbitant interest rates that can leave people in a spiral of debt, said Megan Olsen Biebighauser, parish organizing leader at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

"Actually built into the model of these payday lenders," she said, "is that people will re-borrow, again and again and again, never able to get out from what starts off as a really small debt."

Holy Trinity is helping organize efforts to provide affordable alternatives for those who are living paycheck-to-paycheck and end up with mounting bills from car repairs, hospital visits and other financial setbacks.

Key to those plans is to open a storefront next year under the first-of-its-kind nonprofit, Exodus Lending, which will provide short-term, small-dollar installment loans "at far, far, far, far, far lower interest than our payday-lending neighbors," Biebighauser said. "And the loan pool itself will be funded by investments, from congregations and from individuals that will kind of pool some of their assets to create this lending pool."

Leaders from the Exodus Lending project will share more information Sunday at a "friend-raiser" at Midtown Church - which, like Holy Trinity, also is located in south Minneapolis. Over the past five years, the number of payday loans in Minnesota has more than doubled.

A BBB advisory is online at bbb.org. Details about the "friend-raiser" are at midtownchurchmpls.org.


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