Salt Lake County plans to pass ordinance on payday lenders

A six-month moratorium banning any new payday lenders in unincorporated Salt Lake County ended on Tuesday.

But don't expect a rush of new lending businesses to pop up anytime soon.

No, the Salt Lake County Council did not pass an ordinance limiting the industry, but it did effectively stop a potential rush by saying the council intends to pass such an ordinance within the next two months.

The county put the moratorium in place six months ago to "wait and see" if the Legislature would put any regulations in place for the check-cashing industry on a statewide level.

Now that the session has come and gone with no real meaningful regulation, Hatch said it's time for the county to do something.

"This is a business that is deservant of regulation, and I wish the federal government and state government would step up and do it sooner rather than the years and years and years they seem to be taking," Hatch said.

Payday lending businesses often are highly concentrated in one area, causing blight and higher crime, as customers carry out large amounts of cash, Hatch said. He said zoning laws are the only way local governments can rein in the growing problem.

Hatch's ordinance would limit check-cashing businesses to one per 15,000 county residents. It also scatters the lenders across the county by spacing each payday loan shop by 600 feet in the unincorporated areas.

Several cities in Salt Lake County have already clamped down on payday lenders. Officials in West Valley City, South Salt Lake, Taylorsville, West Jordan, South Jordan, Draper, Sandy and Midvale have all passed city ordinances restricting the industry.

However, some Republicans on the council are hesitant to pass Hatch's ordinance, saying they don't want to interfere with the free market.

"I have a lot of reservations about this industry," Councilman Mark Crockett said. He said he is eager to bring interest rates down and make lenders "more professionalized.

"The way to accomplish that is more competition, not less. I perceive this as an anti-competitive approach. That effectively grants local monopolies."

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