The zoning restriction placed on payday lenders by the Springfield City Council is a much needed step in the decade long struggle to rein in the worst abuses of the payday loan industry.

 

Limiting lenders to one every 1,500 feet certainly puts lenders on notice that their activities will be closely watched by the City of Springfield and communities throughout the state.

However, we agree with Ward 7 Alderman Debbie Cimarossa that more needs to be done. Specifically, Illinois needs a comprehensive consumer credit statute that protects consumers, caps fees, and keeps short-term loans from becoming a long-term problem.

Grassroots, local responses to payday lending, such as this one, represent the collective frustration with previous policy responses. Since 2002, two major efforts to establish strong consumer protections have passed the General Assembly–and each time the payday lending industry has successfully evaded the law.

Woodstock applauds the leadership of Alderman Debbie Cimarossa and Ward 6 Alderman Mark Mahoney on this issue, as well as the tie-breaking vote of Mayor Tim Davlin necessary to enact this ordinance. We now turn our attention to the Illinois General Assembly where we hope this local response to a statewide problem will not go unnoticed.