Ongoing Efforts to Regulate Online Loans in Virginia

No work? No credit? No problem, borrowers can go online to get a loan and pay five thousand percent interest. But, as Michael Pope reports, this era could be coming to an end.

Walk into a brick and mortar store to get a car loan or a payday loan and the lender has all kinds of restrictions, from the interest rate and the length of the loan to whether or not you can access the lender. your bank account. But go online and it’s the Wild West. Over the summer, industry leaders met with advocates like Jay Speer at the Virginia Poverty Law Center to develop new regulations for online lending.

“The good news is that the attorney general’s office, consumer advocates like me who represent the borrowers who are screwed up by the salary and the car title lenders and consumer credit companies all seem to be on the same page. wave. “

Delegate Mark Levine from Alexandria said he might end up developing a proposal before the next working group meeting in September.

“I hope we will put regulations on exorbitant loans that come in from out of state.”

The task force was formed earlier this year when lawmakers expressed concern that online lenders were using a loophole in the law to evade consumer protections that apply to lenders who operate physical stores in Virginia.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.