Hakeem Jeffries Signs Onto Bill Clearing Way For 'Payday' Loans

The “payday” loan could be on its way to check-cashing businesses across Brooklyn — that is, if a cross-section of state elected officials, including Prospect Heights Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, has its way.

Two identical bills introduced in the state Senate and Assembly earlier this year seek to lift the existing 25 percent interest cap on loans issued by financial institutions across the state.

According to city consumer advocates, the legislation would clear the way for payday loans carrying interest as high as 400 percent at cash-checking outlets that cater to low-income residents throughout the borough.

“The last thing that desperate consumers need are high interest predatory loans from check cashers,” said Jonathan Mintz, commissioner of the city Department of Consumer Affairs.

Mintz said he understood the need for loans was great in low-income neighborhoods historically underserved by the banking and credit union industries. However, he stressed that the practice of payday lending, in which workers request an advance on their next paycheck at typically high levels of interest, was not the way to go.

“The answer for people is to get quality financial counseling and to go to banks and credit unions so that they can get access to free and responsible lending products,” Mintz said.

A Jeffries representative did not return calls for comment on the bill.

Since the bill was introduced April 11, two fellow elected officials representing low-income areas elsewhere in the borough, Democratic Assembly members Nick Perry and Annette Robinson, have taken their names off the legislation.

Like Mintz, a Brooklyn attorney representing victims of predatory lending practices recognized the vacuum left by the absence of banks and credit unions in neighborhoods buffeted by high-unemployment, rising rent and food prices.

“It’s true that working class people need access to credit and short term loans,” said Jennifer Sinton, deputy director of South Brooklyn Legal Service’s foreclosure prevention project. “The thing is … there are programs by credit unions that do involve responsible lending.”

According to Mintz, despite looming budget cuts on a wide-range of city services, Mayor Michael Bloomberg remains committed to putting more resources into the city's Financial Empowerment Centers that provide counseling and assistance to residents struggling to stay ahead of their bills.

In addition to mobile financial assistance units across the borough, there are two FEC locations in Bed-Stuy and East New York.

Sponsored by Bronx Democratic Assemblyman Carl Heastie, the bill is currently under consideration by the chamber’s Committee on Banks.

Mintz said he planned to lobby against the bill on behalf of the city in a visit to the State Capitol on Monday. 

A veteran of the fallout left behind by the subprime mortgage crisis, Sinton said she saw parallels between the predatory lending practices prevalent during the housing boom and the payday loan industry. 

“Some of the same communities most affected by the foreclosure crisis are now the target of the payday loans,” she said. “And we’ve already seen what irresponsible lending practices have done to our country.”