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Patricia Aromi drove from Greenville to support the bill that would cap interest rates on short-term loans at 36%. “I am in support of fighting predatory lending,” said Aromi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_margin=”10px|||” custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Article” _builder_version=”4.2″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” text_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_2_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_2_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_2_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_3_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_3_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_3_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_4_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_5_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_6_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px”]<\/p>\n Outraged over the state\u2019s lax laws on high-interest, short-term lending, supporters of a bill that would put a cap on interest rates united at the State House Wednesday.<\/p>\n Seven people spoke in favor of the legislation before the House Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee. After the subcommittee meeting, \u00a0interest group leaders spoke to a crowd of supporters in the State House rotunda.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe groups that are involved are the faith-based communities and also non-profits across the state that recognize that high interest loans are damaging and harmful to our citizens,\u201d said Kerri Smith,\u00a0coordinator for South Carolina Fair Lending Alliance.<\/p>\n The legislation would require short-term lenders to offer financial literacy courses before approving a loan, limit the annual percentage rate that can be charged and require lenders to ensure that they are offering loans on good faith that they can be paid back.<\/p>\n Supporters of the bill are fighting for a cap of 36% on interest rates in the state. Currently there is no cap and lenders can charge as much as they want, with some charging percentages in the hundreds.<\/p>\n Luke Crumbaker is the\u00a0program manager for the Greenville Financial Empowerment Centers. The centers offer free financial counsel and savings plans for individuals. He\u2019s seen many clients with interest-only payments and said that title loans, payday loans and even loans marketed as \u201ccredit builder loans\u201d are common.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to see a tighter rein on this market, on this kind of unleashed industry that is effectively siphoning money out of our vulnerable communities,\u201d Crumbaker said.<\/p>\n The bill is sponsored by six House Democrats and one Republican. Smith said growing support for the measure is \u201cdefinitely a very promising development.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters of the bill aim to protect vulnerable citizens who get stuck in debt traps and also pump the money paid to high-interest rates back into the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s highway robbery,\u201d Rafael Aromi of Greenville said. \u201cWho gets stuck in that? People that don\u2019t have nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Advocates called for passage of legislation to rein in payday lenders. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":31567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[67,62,39],"tags":[612,1618,1619,1616,1617,695],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31529"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31529"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31797,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31529\/revisions\/31797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}