Dear Powerful and Prophetic Leaders,
Amazed! Inspired! Grateful!
On behalf of Coloradans to Stop Predatory Payday Loans and Together Colorado, we thank you for your excellent performance in achieving our target goal for signature collection. It is uplifting to be celebrating a terrific milestone this week, as we delivered 78 boxes of petitions which includes over 188,000 signatures. The Secretary of State must now officially validate signatures in the next 30 days. For more information, please read the campaign statement below.
The endless hours that were spent gathering signatures shows commitment to Civic Engagement, Human Dignity and Financial Equality and Equity for all.
Stay the Course! Your hard work and determination is paying off. We have a few more hurdles to reach the November 2018 ballot.
Here are some helpful tools to take action:
- Coloradans to Stop Predatory Payday Loans Facebook Page
- Visit the Stop Predatory Payday Loans Web Page
- Add your name to the Faith Leader Sign-On
Let’s turn our attention toward organizing, getting out the vote and passing this payday loan cap!
Blessings on your journey,
Rev. Dr. Anne Rice-Jones, Board of Directors, Together Colorado
It’s Time to Stop the Payday Loan Triple-Digit Interest Debt Trap!
A coalition of community, faith, civil rights and advocacy organizations have come together to stop predatory payday loans through a ballot initiative in the 2018 election. We recently submitted 188,000 signatures to the Secretary of State to qualify the initiative for the ballot!
Payday lenders are currently the only lenders exempted from state usury laws, which means they can charge more than 200 percent in annual interest for loans of up to $500. Payday loans force struggling families into cycles of debt with these extremely high interest rates on loans that make repayment very difficult.
Coloradans to Stop Predatory Payday Loans will ask voters to require that payday lenders play by the same rules as other lenders in Colorado by charging no more than 36% APR. It’s time to close the payday loan loophole!
The ballot language is simple:
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning limitations on payday lenders, and, in connection therewith, reducing allowable charges on payday loans to an annual percentage rate of no more than thirty-six percent?
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia already stop predatory payday lending within their borders by enforcing interest rates caps of 36 percent or less. Studies have shown that access to credit doesn’t change in states that cap interest rates.
After North Carolina closed payday lending completely, studies found that there was no significant impact on the availability of credit for households. Former payday borrowers there and in other payday-free states report that they now build on savings and cut back on expenses, as well as access other resources that are much cheaper and less harmful than payday loans.
Colorado will now join four other states that put this initiative on their ballot, including Arizona, Ohio, Montana and South Dakota, where interest rate caps passed overwhelmingly.
This year, the voters of Colorado have the chance to level the playing field!
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For more information contact Corrine Rivera Fowler: [email protected]