When the alternator goes out in the only car your family has and you can’t get to work, what do you do?



For many, the answer is simple. They delve into that responsible savings account of theirs, or they pull out the good old platinum card and charge it. Problem solved.

However, for many in the South Sound, options like those are simply out of the question. Credit cards and savings accounts, especially in economic times like these, are a safety net many just don’t have.



Therein lies the appeal of the payday loan — and thus the industry it has spawned, which has blossomed like a unchecked fungus in the damp, shady and increasingly prevalent world of economic hardship in our state.



While many people use payday loans responsibly — or as responsibly as you can possibly use a loan that’s inherently irresponsible — many more get sucked into what State Rep. Steve Kirby (D-29th District) calls a “cycle of revolving debt.” Consumers with seemingly no other choice start taking out new payday loans to pay off old payday loans, spiraling downward in a debt-laced black hole that often leaves them broker than they were to begin with, and now with three or four payday loan agencies mercilessly harassing them like mobsters for the money they owe.



It’s silly. It’s wrong. And it’s got to stop. Not all payday loan agencies prey on the broke and downtrodden, but most do. By the time a consumer has taken out four or five payday loans to stay afloat, they’ve already paid in fees and interest the total amount of the original loan — which is typically no more than a couple hundred dollars, and never more than $700.



Steve Kirby realizes there’s something wrong, and luckily he’s poised to do something about it.



Tuesday, Feb. 17, two measures championed by Kirby as an “evenhanded compromise for the small loan industry” were unanimously approved by the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Commission, which Kirby chairs.



The first of Kirby’s measures would mandate that only one payday loan can be taken out at a time — creating an electronic tracking system to be used by all payday loan agencies to make sure this happens. The measure also stipulates that the loan cannot exceed 30 percent of a borrower’s income, or $700 — whichever is less — and sets up 90- and 180-day repayment options for those in over their heads.



Kirby’s second measure would prevent payday loan agencies from using mob-like collection practices, like threatening people, embarrassing them, showing up on their doorstep or at their job and impersonating law enforcement officers.



“It doesn’t ban or spank them,” says Kirby about what affects his measures would have on the payday loan industry. “I think we’re going to thin out the herd. Not all of them will be able to survive these changes.”



If the legislature does the right thing and Kirby’s payday loan measures become law it won’t exactly be a death blow for the industry, but it will drastically affect how many of them do business — for the better.



For this, Kirby should be applauded. Regulations like these have been sorely lacking from the payday loan racket for far too long. The time has come.