A friend of mine recently asked if he could borrow $60 bucks. He had a hot date that night and was just a little strapped for cash. I thought to myself, “well, I don’t have a lot of money to spare right now, but he would do the same for me.” I gave him $60 bones and he agreed to pay me back in a few days. I thought about being a jerk and charging him interest or making him do some random favor for me in return. I decided that would be in poor taste.

Not everyone has a wonderful, selfless friend like me in their life. They go to a Payday Loan storefront. In addition to selling their soul, they sign a contract agreeing to pay interest on the cash they borrowed. These Payday Lenders can charge up to 500% interest–that would be hundreds of dollars of interest on the $60 my friend borrowed.

This industry has gotten out of hand and they are ruining people’s lives by exploiting them in a time of desperation. And business is booming; there are more payday lending storefronts than McDonalds and Starbucks in Colorado combined!

Rep. Mark Ferrandino has introduced a bill to apply the same rules to payday lenders that other lenders have to play by and capping interest rates at 36%. The loan shark industry is throwing a bunch of money and paid lobbyists to beat the bill, so it’s critical that legislators hear from regular Colorado citizens. If you click the link below you can send a quick letter to your Colorado Representative.

Click here to write your Representative now!

For the record, my friend (let’s call him “Preston“) still hasn’t paid me back my $60 bucks. Also, the date he went on didn’t pan out so well.