Dear Editor:
As a Canadian, I am ashamed we allow payday lenders to operate. They are like vultures that prey on the weakest of our society.
Consumer Protection B.C. has recently ordered one of these companies, The Cash Store, to repay lenders $1 million. Between November 2009 and March 2012, some of the poorest people in B.C. felt they had no choice to make ends meet than taking out 68,000 loans with the company that was charging well above the legal rate of 23 per cent per month.
That's right, the legal rate is 23 per cent per month, not per year. So, while wealthy and middle-class people pay about three per cent for a mortgage, our provincial government allows payday lenders to charge the poorest people in the province interest rates at about 100 times what well-heeled people pay. Talk about an upside-down world.
I want to know what Burnaby MLAs are going to do to stop this immoral and unjust practice. Kathy Corrigan, Raj Chouhan, Richard Lee and Jane Shin: I want to know what you will do to stop this abuse of those of us who can least afford it.
Remember, we are voters too.
Jacqueline Hardy, by email
