Tell Arizona Lawmakers

 

Don’t let the payday lenders sneak back into Arizona!

 

HB 2146 is a Trojan Horse bill that opens the doors for predatory payday lending

 

HB 2146 threatens to undermine Arizonans who voted to stop debt trap loans with triple-digit interest rates.  HB 2146 undermines the voters’ will by allowing lenders to side-step the very limits on the costs of loans currently in place in Arizona.  This is exactly the type of opening that the payday lenders would love to see in order to again prey on Arizona consumers.

 

HB 2146 threatens consumers by

 

  • Allowing lenders to broadly waive Arizona’s state and local laws designed to ensure that lenders comply with basic standards to protect Arizona consumers. These changes would apply to lenders wanting to make loans of less than $6,000.  HB 2146 risks eviscerating these strong consumer protection laws we’ve worked hard to maintain against predatory small dollar loans in Arizona. 

 

  • Providing unfettered authority to unlicensed lenders to charge borrowers whatever amount they please, without any regulation. Our voter-affirmed state laws regulate the amount of fees that a lender can legally charge to stop triple-digit interest rate loans. 

 

HB 2146 poses a serious threat to consumers 

 

We must protect our existing laws, and not let lenders – especially payday lenders -  be given a free pass to ignore Arizona’s laws.

 

We need to make sure these strong consumer protections remain in place to keep Arizonans out of the debt trap.  

 

 

Tell Arizona Lawmakers 


Online lenders must be held accountable to state law

 

HB 2146 passed by 4 votes to 3 in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, March 21, 2019

 

The Arizona House of Representatives has approved HB 2146 (Contracts; Licensure Requirements; Waiver; Applicability). This bill would allow two parties in a contract to waive any state, city, town, or county licensure requirement, provided that a service is offered electronically and for less than $6,000.

 

Though some industries have been excluded from using this waiver, very few protections have been included for people using online lenders or money transmitters. 

 

A YES vote on HB 2146 is a

 

  • Vote for online loan sharking. Unlicensed online lenders could charge unlimited fees on top of interest for loans up to $6,000. Voters rejected triple-digit rate payday loans. HB 2146 would reopen the door for usurious loans. HB 2146 is this year’s stealth loan-sharking bill.
     
  • Vote for money laundering. Unlicensed money transmitters would not be required to report suspicious transactions to the Attorney General, making law enforcement more difficult.
     
  • Vote for the Wild West of money transmitter transactions, with no licensing or supervision by the Department of Financial Institutions or the Office of Attorney General’s sandbox program. No requirements for liquid assets, permissible investments, or surety bonds. No legal requirement to complete transactions with consumers’ funds.
     
  • Vote for unfair competition and consumer confusion as some companies are permitted to operate without any state or local license or product-specific requirements as long as transactions are up to $6,000 and substantially performed electronically.
     
  • Vote for draining licensing fees and examination fees from the General Fund and from local government budgets. No fiscal note quantifies the licensing fees that will go uncollected due to HB 2146.

The Arizona Legislature
in 2019

 

Arizona’s 54th Legislature, First Regular Session convened Monday, January 14, 2019, and adjourned Sine Die in the early hours of Tuesday, May 28, 2019.

 

After 134 days of session, a total of 1,318 bills were introduced.  Of those, 320 were signed in to law by Governor Doug Ducey and 11 were vetoed.  The general effective date for all legislation that did not contain an emergency clause or delayed effective date was August 27, 2019.

 

2019 CEI Bill Tracking Datasheet

 

HB2146 (Rivero)

A Trojan Horse bill that opens the door to predatory payday lending

HB2175 (Weninger)

  • Signed by the Governor on 4/23

HB2177 (Weninger)

Expands the Regulatory Sandbox Program before there is even a track record

HB2284 (Weninger)

  • Signed by the Governor on 3/22