Stand up against predatory loans

It’s a financial practice so predatory that experts have likened its perpetrators to “bears on a trout stream” — and we have a chance to end it for good.

High-cost lenders, offering predatory loans often with triple-digit interest rates, set up shop wherever they feel they can lure customers into the debt trap that these loans create. Appallingly, they often specifically target veterans — who don’t currently have the same legal protections against these loans as active duty service members do.

Nothing about this practice is right or fair — and a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers agrees. They’ve introduced the Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit Act (VCFCA) to put a cap on consumer loan interest rates.

For all of us, and especially for our veterans, we can’t miss this chance to stop the debt trap. Urge your U.S. House representative to pass this crucial bill today.

The VCFCA would implement a nationwide cap of 36% on the interest rates of some of the most problematic consumer loans, such as payday and car title loans.

That same cap is already enforced for loans sold to active duty service members — it was passed back in 2006 to combat the practice of predatory lenders targeting members of our military, due to their low-but-reliable incomes, and trapping them in cycles of high-interest debt.

It’s long past time to finally ensure that these protections are extended to military veterans and the American public as a whole.

Of course, there are special interests that don’t like this idea. The American Bankers Association has spoken out against similar measures in the past — and lenders who profit off high-interest loans are already making their opposition heard.

But if we stand together in support of these crucial protections, we can win. The VCFCA already has bipartisan support in Congress — so now is the time to ensure the bill has enough backing to put it over the finish line.

Tell Congress: Pass the VCFCA to stop the debt trap.