The Arizona Consumers Council sent this letter to the Prescott Daily Courier, in response a letter from the “Center for Consumer Freedom” (a payday astroturf organization) that suggested that imposing fee caps on pay day loans will cut off a necessary resource.

Dear Editor:

In 2008, pay day lenders funded a pricey initiative in an attempt to ensure they could continue to offer their high cost loans to low income Arizonans in perpetuity. They lost. Big time. Sixty percent of Arizonans told the pay day lending vampires: Go home. Quit sucking hundreds of millions of dollars in interest from working Arizonans.

Loud and clear as this message was, the pay day lenders and their supporters in the Arizona legislature didn’t hear it. They are back again this year (having lost last year), in yet another attempt to keep plying their trade. They argue, as they did in a recent letter to the editor from the Center for Consumer Freedom, that they provide a necessary service to those who need emergency cash. They suggest that it’s “elitist” to cut off this source of funds.

But they are wrong: Legislators who vote no on pay day lending aren’t “elitist.” Instead, they are smart, because they are doing what the voters who elected them told them to do. Voters in every district in this state had their say on pay day lending, and they said it’s time for these predators to go.

As we all know, Arizona faces challenging times. We need to broaden our economic base so there are good jobs in diverse industries for our citizens. We need to make sure we have an educated workforce so that we attract and keep good employers. We need our legislators to focus on these difficult tasks, rather than going behind voters’ backs to help an industry that takes money from our workers.

Sincerely yours,

Leslie Kyman Cooper

Executive Director

Arizona Consumers Council