Payday lending bill not dead after all

By JIM DuPLESSIS - jduplessis@thestate.com

S.C. House members who thought they had lost their chance to vote this year on whether to restrict payday lending might get another chance with a little help from their counterparts in the Senate.

S.C. Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, said Friday that many Senate and House members were frustrated by the decision of a powerful member of the S.C. House to let the bill passed by the Senate Feb. 19 die in House committee.

So, on Thursday, Lourie and S.C. Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, amended a House bill regarding payday lending oversight to include the provisions of the Senate bill restricting the number and amount of loans.

They say the measures are designed to restrict consumers from becoming trapped in a chain of debts from the small, two-week loans that carry interest equal to a 391 percent annual percentage rate.

Payday lenders, including Spartanburg-based Advance America, the nation’s largest payday lender, say the loans provide convenient credit to households facing financial emergencies.

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who presides over the Senate, must decide if the lending restrictions are relevant to the original House bill, which would shift regulation of payday lending from the S.C. Board of Financial Institutions to the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs.

Bauer is expected to rule on the issue when the Senate convenes Tuesday. If he rules against the amendment’s relevance, Lourie said, “that’s another nail in the coffin” for payday loan restrictions this year.

“I’m not going to say we’re going to win, but we’re not giving up easy.”

On Wednesday, state Rep. Harry Cato, R-Greenville, said the bill that would restrict the size and number of payday loans was dead. Cato, the chairman of the House Commerce Committee, said that payday lenders and consumer advocates were at odds over provisions of the bill.

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305.