Group must collect signatures to curtail short term interest rates

According to a 2007 study conducted by the Missouri Division of Finance, the average annual interest rate of short term loans in the state was 445 percent, the Post-Dispatch reports. Furthermore, a total of 2.43 million short term loans were made in the approximately 1,040 short term loan stores in the state, putting Missouri second only to Tennessee in terms of the number of licensed short term lenders in the Midwest. The Columbia Tribune reports that Jim Bryan, treasurer of the Missourians for Responsible Lending, is leading a statewide charge against exorbitant interest rates by filing a proposal with the Secretary of State's office that would limit interest rates on short-term loans to 36 percent. "We think it's a good number for common, ordinary people as well," Bryan told the news source. "We're trying to get it on the ballot so that the people of Missouri are voting, not the legislators." The news source notes that in order for the ballot to be introduced to voters in November 2012, MRL must compile signatures from six of the state's nine congressional districts, and the total must equal 5 percent of the number of votes cast in the 2008 governor's election.