KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Need cash quick? We see payday loan ads every day on TV or just driving by. Monday night a large group of people in Kansas City spoke against those payday loan companies.
“We care about the economic dignities of people living in our community,” said Jennifer Thomas, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church.
The organization called Communities Creating Opportunities provided petitions and asked for signatures. John Sheeley has been asking for signatures too on petitions, to put a measure on the Missouri ballot capping payday loan interest rates at 36 percent.
“I just can’t believe that the folks in Jefferson City have allowed this to happen and grow the way it has,” said John Sheeley.
People here say payday loan companies take advantage of people like this woman.
“I have an emergency, and I don’t have any cash,” one woman who didn’t want to be identified said.
“My loan was $400, and I had to pay $800,” said a payday loan customer FOX 4 talked to.
Groups like Stand Up Missouri, however, oppose the ballot initiative. Stand Up Missouri’s website says it has the interest of traditional installment loans in mind when it opposes the ballot measure. It warns the measure could get rid of all small loans, leaving people with only the option of a bank.
