Help us stop predatory payday loans

It happens: you hit a rough patch, bills pile up, and all of a sudden you can’t make your car payment on time. You should have access to credit that can help you weather the storm.

But for many Americans, their only options are predatory “payday” loans, with sky-high annual interest rates averaging 400 percent and short repayment periods that trap people in a cycle of debt that’s incredibly difficult to break.

We should be giving Americans down on their luck a chance to get back on their feet, not turning their hardship into a long-term crisis. We’re supporting a bill that will make these predatory loans a thing of the past.

Tell your representative: Support the bipartisan Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit Act (VCFCA), which would cap interest rates on payday loans.

The payday loan industry doesn’t want this bill to succeed, and it’ll lobby to stop it. We know this bill can help prevent people from getting trapped by debt. But we’ll need as many people as possible to call on our legislators to support it if we want it to become law.

The VCFCA would do away with unfair interest rates by setting a cap of 36 percent APR. We know caps like this work: More than a dozen states have already passed rate caps that are saving consumers money. And the Military Lending Act has capped interest rates for service members at 36 percent for more than a decade.

Tell your representative to support the VCFCA now.