Poverty Task Force to address predatory lending in Paris

The Poverty Task Force, organized by the United Way of Lamar County, identified early this year the need to address a possible city ordinance to regulate payday lending and car title loans, known as “predatory lending.”

On Friday, August 12th at noon in Lewis Hall (behind PRMC) the group will meet and hear from Ann Baddour from the Austin nonprofit Texas Appleseed.  This organization has helped 46 cities in Texas pass ordinances to regulate predatory lending.

The group will also hear from Jackie Clay, chair of the East Texas Human Needs Network, out of Tyler, who is also beginning the work of passing a city ordinance.  This coalition received a grant to study the economic impact of predatory lending on their community, and Ms. Clay will share the results of this study with the task force.

City Council members from both the city of Paris and Reno have been invited to attend the meeting, but it is also open to the public.

For more information, call Jenny Wilson, Executive Director of the United Way of Lamar County, at 903-784-6642.