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- 21 - accessHealthNews.net June 2023 Volume 9 | Issue No. 71 L ocal leaders have long heard about the destruction unregulated and predatory payday loans cause for their communities, but despite their advocacy, wealthy lobbyists with skin in the game have ensured the push for regulation has never gained traction. Now, looking ahead to the 2024 legislative season, these leaders are coming together to demonstrate that this is not a partisan issue, but an issue that affects all Kansans, and that payday loan reform will benefit everyone. Chuck Weber, director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, and Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, are champions of the movement toward payday loan reform in Kansas. Weber and Moti uplift the work of the Kansans for Payday Loan Reform Coalition and motivate their communities to come together across politics and faith to fight for reform. For Moti, payday loans are one of many issues that work together to create instability for working people and their families. The state's refusal to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid, in addition to the stringencies put on access to SNAP and other benefits, create a debt trap where the only option for many people is to take out a payday loan. Because the industry remains unregulated, lenders can charge exorbitant interest fees and are not required to allow payment installments. With average interest rates of 391%, many Kansans are forced to take out additional loans to keep up with payments as they often can't pay the loan back in full at the time it is due, thus creating a cycle of debt seemingly impossible to escape. "Payday loans are an issue for working people because most people don't have savings to deal with unexpected expenses," Moti said. "When something comes up, they end up either putting something on their credit card or taking out a payday loan. . .The mythology of conservatives is bootstraps and personal responsibility, but it does not take into account the many, many ways that circumstances can contribute to people being in a difficult financial state." As a former Kansas state legislator, representing the 85th District from 2015 to 2018, Weber had a philosophy of "let the market decide" on the issue of payday loan reform. However, a lobbyist with the Kansas Catholic Conference opened his eyes by taking the time to help him understand that people who use payday loans often have no other option. Like Moti, Weber recognizes that other factors contribute to the Jenga-like instability that Kansans face financially: one emergency and the tower crumbles. "Inflation is drastically impacting the household budgets of Kansans, particularly middle-to-lower income families," he said. "This causes stress in the household and can contribute to the breakdown of the family. This is my number one concern—family stability that is threatened by rising costs to just make ends meet." Weber experienced this personally when one of his six brothers became caught in the debt trap caused by predatory payday loans. Though Weber and his wife were able to lend a hand, this was a strain on them as well. The experience underscored the need for urgency on this issue as not every family is as fortunate and able to similarly recover. "Far too many Kansans do not have a relative or friend with whom they can lean on financially during difficult times and the payday loan industry knows that and preys upon this dynamic," Weber said. The movement for payday loan reform has such strong support from faith-based communities for particularly this reason: there is a tradition across faiths and cultures against exploiting others financially. "This conception that some 'other' is dealing with this because they somehow mismanaged their life – that's what some people think, because it serves them well to think that, but there's a lack of compassion, of understanding, of experience of how people who are not wealthy live." - Rabbi Moti Rieber, Executive Director of Kansas Interfaith Action READ MORE

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