Interest rates on payday loans in Alabama would fall by more than half under a compromise payday loan reform bill that won approval in an Alabama Senate committee Wednesday. SB 110, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, now awaits action by the full Senate.

Only one committee member – Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster – voted against the bill. Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, abstained from voting.

Orr’s bill would change Alabama’s payday loan law to be similar to the one in Colorado, where the payday loan industry continues to exist but charges lower prices. “Colorado-style” reform caused substantial industry consolidation and made loans somewhat more affordable for borrowers. Orr’s bill would model Colorado’s law by extending the length of time that borrowers would have to repay their loans. Payday loans in Alabama are usually due in two weeks, and carry annual interest rates of up to 456 percent.

SB 110 is more complicated than the 36 percent annual interest rate cap that payday loan reformers have sought for years, and the allowable rates would be much higher than that. The cost of payday loans under Orr’s plan would vary, depending on the length of the loan and the amount (up to $500) borrowed. Though the finance charge would be capped at a 45 percent annual rate, additional fees would push the maximum allowable interest rate into triple digits. Using a similar framework, Colorado’s payday loan interest rates decreased from 339 percent a year to 188 percent a year.

Orr told the committee that his approach was an effort to bring some regulations to the industry by bringing down borrowers’ costs without putting the industry out of business. Orr’s message was one of seeking a regulatory “middle ground” between the status quo and a proposed 36 percent rate cap.

Arise continues to support capping interest rates on payday and auto title loans at 36 percent a year, but it will work to oppose any industry amendments that would weaken Orr’s compromise bill, ACPP executive director Kimble Forrister said. Legislation to cap interest rates on payday and title loans at 36 percent has not been filed yet, but advocates expect such bills to be introduced later this month.

Read the Montgomery Advertiser’s coverage for more on Orr’s bill and the committee’s debate.

By Stephen Stetson, policy analyst. Posted April 1, 2015.