New ruling for payday lending ordinance

This spring, a municipal court judge struck down a section of Austin’s payday lending ordinance. According to that ruling, the ordinance’s limits on installation payments were preempted by state law. Last week, a Travis County court found that the ordinance is not preempted by state law. Texas Appleseed called the ruling a “huge win.” A press release from the group explained, “State data for the Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area show that from 2014 to 2016, there was a 43% decline in the dollar amount of refinances for these high-cost loans and borrowers paid nearly $27 million less in fees to payday and auto title lenders. During the same period, 1,291 fewer families had a car repossessed by an auto title lender.”