Marcia Bryan News Today

Ottawa has proposed regulatory changes that would lower the criminal interest rate from the equivalent of 47 per cent annual percentage rate (APR) to 35 per cent APR. But credit counsellors and poverty activists say that alone won’t address the reasons why people turn to alternative lenders.

Some Canadians who have turned to high-interest loans due to not qualifying for traditional credit could lose access to them as the government prepares to pass new laws targeting predatory lenders, according to the Canadian Lenders Association.

Chrystia Freeland says the government will reduce the maximum allowable annual interest charge to 35%, down from the current cap of 47%. Alternative lenders say that will mean cutting borrowers off.

Former Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton remembers vividly a crisp, clear fall day back in 1984, when his good friend and former MSU classmate George Bryan took him on an excursion into the backwoods of Clay County near West Point.

Unadilla News, 8-20