Racine Moves Ahead with Payday Loan Ordinance; Cash Advance Company Pleas Ignored
By J.J. CameronPayday Loan Writer
You can't blame a payday loan company for trying.
Representatives from a EZCorp - a Texas-based provider of cash advances/loans - tried convince the city's Plan Commission to reconsider changes to the city's zoning codes that would restrict their business. The firm failed in its efforts.
Instead, on Wednesday, the Plan Commission took another look at a proposed ordinance that would amend existing zoning codes and place certain restrictions on payday loan businesses. The commission once again approved said amendments that define what a convenient cash business is and establish a distance between stores in an effort to restrict their locations.
The goal of the new payday loan law: Such an ordinance would amend the city's zoning codes by defining convenient instant cash loan businesses - making them a conditional use - and setting a distance requirement of 2,500 feet between stores and 250 feet from any residential district. The City Council will vote on the ordinance at its meeting next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall We'll have the results for you.
Alderman Aron Wisneski, one of the sponsors of the ordinance, listed cities in Wisconsin - such as Superior, Green Bay and Madison - that currently have restrictions in place regulating payday loan stores. Alderman Greg Helding, another sponsor of the ordinance, said he thought Racine's footage restrictions seemed reasonable.
However, Alderman Keith Fair asked Plan Commission members to go back to the drawing board and reconsider the ordinance and the restrictions that it places on payday advance businesses.
"The ordinance categorizes several businesses together and it excludes people from doing business in Racine," Fair said.
A different kind of payday advance operation? Representatives from EZCorp Inc. said the company is not like other businesses. Michael Maistelman, a Milwaukee attorney representing the company locally, said representatives felt the company was being unfairly lumped together with pawn shops and title loan businesses.
"We are not a check-cashing store. We're not a pawn shop and we're not a title loan company," Maistelman said about his clients' company. "We assist customers in short-term loans."
Maistelman said EZCorp more closely resembles a bank in terms of the way the stores conduct business. Customers are required to have bank accounts and there is a $1,000 pay day loan limit. He said 100 percent of his clients' customers are employed.
The company operates more than 500 storefronts in 12 states under the EZPawn, EZMoney Loan Services, EZMoney Payday Loans and EZ Loan Services brand names. In Wisconsin, the firm has cash advance stores in Kenosha, Milwaukee, West Allis and Marshfield.
