A covert campaign by payday lenders

Apparently, a mailer is being distributed around Colorado warning of "anti-jobs extremists" promoting tighter regulations on payday lending.

That would be us, the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, along with a large coalition of groups that are concerned about payday lending practices. But we can hardly be described as "anti-jobs extremists," given our long record of research pointing to constructive ways to strengthen Colorado's economy.

The odd thing about the mailer is it doesn't say exactly what proposal it's talking about. The Denver Post spelled out the details in a blog today.

The mailer concerns House Bill 1351, a measure now working its way through the Colorado Legislature that would cap the interest payday lenders can charge at an annual rate of 36 percent. That’s still high compared to the rates charged by many banks and other responsible lenders, but it’s a big improvement over the rates of up to 521 percent payday lenders are charging now.