Gadsden council may consider payday loan moritorium

Gadsden City Council President Deverick Williams says he plans to introduce a resolution establishing a one-year moratorium on granting business licenses for so-called “payday lending” or “payday loan” businesses in the city.  Williams  said he plans to introduce the resolution April 14.

Williams said the resolution will be patterned after similar ones passed in Birmingham and Pelham.

Williams said he wanted to make sure such a resolution would be legal and believes it will be.

Williams said many legislators had been slow to react to the industry, which has been criticized for charging high interest rates, because some of them have ownership in these types of businesses.

He said the council has an obligation to present the city “in the best possible light, and this is just one of those ways we're trying to do that.”