Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Mesa to battle Pay Day Loans

Mesa has declared war on the Pay Day lending industry pledging to thwart any efforts to revive the industry following their embarassing beatdown on the November Ballot. Mesa, oft known for their plethora of Pay Day loan shops, have decided to battle any legislation proposed to keep the industry around past their sunset date in 2010.

Needless to say, I was surprised that Mesa actually has 95 shops in town. Its difficult to tell how many of these would be able to survive as check cashing stores if the payday loan laws were to expire. The question is, what will Mesa do with 95 additional empty commercial properties? I am not a huge fan of the industry, but I do think we have to look at all of the ramifications before we outright ban something from town. In talking to everyone, letting them go away is certainly the popular move, but we do have to think about what that would do to some of these shopping centers that are already suffering.

1 comment:

Thane Eichenauer said...

One question that should be asked is what City of Mesa budget item will pay for harassment of loan stores?
If you don't like their rates, don't patronize loan stores.
I personally think loan stores are fantastic as their price for money orders is between nothing and 50 cents.