UnidosUS Lauds Bipartisan Passage of Bill to Boost Affordable, Fair Access to Credit in California

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SACRAMENTO, CALIF. –Today, UnidosUS (formerly NCLR), the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, praised the passage of AB 539, a measure introduced by California State Assembly members Monique Limón (D-37) and Tim Grayson (D-14), that would place interest rate caps on consumer loans. Without a rate cap, predatory lenders can charge borrowers between 100 percent and 300 percent APR for loans over $2,500. The bill would put in place an interest rate cap of 36 percent, plus the federal fund rate of 2.5 percent, on consumer loans of $2,500 to $10,000. The bill now goes to the State Senate for consideration.

Several attempts had been made to introduce similar legislation that had failed but through the coordinated efforts of a cross section of advocates and policymakers within the last few years, the measure to stave off predatory lenders gained widespread bipartisan backing.

“This bill is a critical tool in helping to keep thousands of Latino families out of a cycle of debt that has served to enrich the predatory lending industry at the expense of working families. We have worked for several years along with countless faith leaders, veterans, local and state policymakers and stakeholders to come up with a commons sense solution and we commend Assemblywoman Monique Limón for her leadership and unwavering commitment in fighting against predatory lending, and authoring and championing this bill,” said Marisabel Torres, Senior Policy Analyst, UnidosUS.