I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
“My business is based on one simple concept. Never tell yourself no. Why not buy that new flat screen, why not take that trip to the Bahamas, why not add a few carats to the engagement ring? There used to be a time if you didn’t have money to buy something, you just didn’t buy it.”
That’s a quote from Morgan Buffkin, the main character in “Easy Money,” an Albuquerque-shot TV series that debuted on the CW in October. This was the show that the New York Times said should win an award for timeliest fall drama: “’Easy Money’ …has arrived, as if by divine intervention, at the precise moment to capitalize on a collective rage aimed at the credit industry,” critic Ginia Bellafante wrote.
Alas, “Easy Money” has been cancelled, but that collective rage is very much alive as New Mexico legislators are gearing up for another crackdown on short-term loans.
In 2007, Gov. Richardson signed a bill restricting payday loans. That bill (HB 92) prohibited loans that exceed 25 percent of the borrower’s monthly income, prohibited renewals and rollovers of payday loans, and required that information be provided in Spanish. It also required automatic payment plans and imposed a “cooling off” period of 10 days before a borrower can get a new loan after entering a payment plan.
But that legislation didn’t cover car title loans, a related form of short term lending that uses the borrower’s vehicle as collateral for a loan. New Mexico state Rep. Al Park, D-Bernalillo, says he plans to introduce legislation imposing similar restrictions on title loans when the legislature convenes in January.
“Let’s say you take your $2,500 truck and you borrow $500, then you default and they repossess your car. That’s a problem,” Park said Thursday. ”These are really predatory practices on the working poor and the immigrant community.”
The legislation has been spearheaded by fellow Democrat Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, Park said, but has also been shaped with input from industry groups. The bill will likely cap interest rates (or impose a fee schedule), impose a longer loan period, address the issue of repossession, and implement a data reporting requirement so that lawmakers can get accurate information about the number and nature of loans being made.
More details will be released next week at the final pre-session meeting of the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, chaired by Park and Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo.
In the meantime, you can catch up on the subject by downloading the past few episodes of “Easy Money.”
