ACA Updates State Legislative Activity

In its monthly round up of state legislative activity, trade group ACA International highlighted a handful of state laws that could impact the ARM and credit granting communities.

A Senate bill in Ohio would forbid check cashers from engaging in collection activities against a member of the armed forces while they are deployed. Senate Bill 248 would protect armed services members from wage garnishment and other collection efforts from check cashing loans when they are specifically deployed to a combat zone. The bill provides other protections for service members, like protection of personal records, but the collection component covers only check cashing loans.

The proposal was introduced last week and no further movement has occurred on it since, according to the Ohio General Assembly’s web site.

A bill in Pennsylvania would give consumers the chance to make payments on a defaulted loan backed by assets before the assets are repossessed. Senate Bill 1143 would require lenders to notify the debtor at least seven days before the loan goes into default, thus triggering the repossession process.

The Pennsylvania bill specifically lays out that failure to notify the debtor will be considered an unfair or deceptive debt collection act. The bill was introduced on November 5 and has been referred to the state’s Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.