Wednesday December 20, 2017

December 19, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 20, 2017

Payday lenders squeezed by new regulations

After more than two decades in the payday-loan industry, Anthony Piet faces his most difficult year in the business.

February 16, 2017

Mr. Piet operates eight Money Mart franchises sprinkled across Canada, located in small towns such as Banff, Alta., and Timmins, Ont. Legislative changes in numerous provinces – including Ontario, to take effect on Jan. 1 – have squeezed payday lenders, in particular smaller players such as Hamilton-based Mr. Piet. New rules reduce how much they can charge and put restrictions on lending.

“Tough,” says Mr. Piet of his 2018 outlook. “Really tough.”

December 11, 2015

The much-maligned payday-loan industry sells short-term loans at a high cost, mostly to lower-income Canadians. If a person doesn’t have access to credit, but is short on money in between paycheques and needs to cover something essential, such as the hydro bill, a lender such as Money Mart is an easy and fast place to get cash. The loans are generally repaid quickly, but the fees, which long stood at more than $20 for every $100 borrowed, added up to an annual interest rate of 500 per cent and more.

December 6, 2014

Provinces across Canada have tightened the rules that govern the industry. Payday lenders insist they provide an essential service, but they have been widely criticized for exploiting vulnerable customers and charging too much. Now they say their margins are being squeezed so badly that they’re fighting for survival.

September 11, 2015

The number of payday lenders operating in Canada has been on a downward trend for several years, in part because of the new legislation. In 2017, there are an estimated 1,360, down 5 per cent from 1,434 in 2015.

For Mr. Piet, with one Money Mart in Alberta, he has taken pragmatic measures. He has reduced hours of operation, cut advertising and pulled back on community contributions. He called his Banff store’s future “tenuous.”

In Ontario, where his Money Marts are in Timmins and Simcoe, Mr. Piet doesn’t feel the new rules in the province foretell looming closures but feels like he is in a vise as he draws up budgets for the coming year. “Everything is under the microscope,” he said. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Thursday, March 21, 2013

March 21, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, March 21, 2013

Manulife withdraws low mortgage rate

Manulife has rescinded a promotional offer it had been offering consumers of a record-low five-year mortgage rate after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty indicated his displeasure with the lender’s decision.

On Tuesday, Manulife Bank dropped its posted interest rate for a five-year fixed-rate mortgage to 2.89 per cent. That’s the lowest posted rate for that time frame the company has ever offered. But in an about-face later in the day, the company pulled the offering and reverted to its former rate above three per cent.

“After consulting with the Department of Finance, Manulife Bank has withdrawn the promotional campaign and reverted to our previous posted rate,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Bank of Montreal made headlines by dropping its benchmark five-year rate to 2.99 per cent. Ottawa expressed fears at the time that it might spark a race to the bottom and encourage more reckless borrowing from Canadians at a time when policymakers were urging them to tighten their belts.

“My expectation is that banks will engage in prudent lending — not the type of ‘race to the bottom’ practices that led to a mortgage crisis in the United States,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said of BMO’s move.

On Tuesday, Flaherty told reporters he was pleased with Manulife’s decision to withdraw the offer.

“I had one of my staff call them and indicate my displeasure, which is the same thing I did with BMO, except I called myself,” the finance minister said. (Source: CBC News)

Wednesday October 18, 2006

October 18, 2006 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Recognizing two solitudes of Lending Agencies

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank – the innovative micro-credit program he founded thirty years ago to help some of the world’s poorest people climb out of chronic poverty. The Nobel Peace Prize is the latest of many awards Yunus has won for bringing this powerful idea to fruition. (More: Christian Science Monitor)

Meanwhile, Stan Keyes has landed a new job, three months after the former federal cabinet minister and longtime Liberal MP was ousted as Boston Consul General by the Conservative government.

The 53-year-old will head up the Canadian Payday Loan Association, the lobby group for 22 firms that run more than 850 payday lending outlets across Canada.

The industry has had its share of controversy, with some critics saying payday lending victimizes the poor and plays an increasing part in bankruptcy cases. The federal Conservatives just introduced legislation to allow provinces to regulate the industry. Payday lending is worth about $1.7 billion each year, with more than 1,300 independent and chain stores.

Keyes, whose new job will see him lobby governments on regulations they create for the payday lending industry, said he accepted becoming CPLA president because he believes it will allow him to use all the skills he’s developed over the last 30 years in politics and the media. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

COMMENTARY

Why can’t defeated politicians simply accept the fact that once they get turfed out of office then maybe it’s time to learn from the voter thrashing and go away into private life for good? Stan Keyes served an honorable and distinguished career by representing Hamilton West as MP from 1988-2004. More than enough time to make his mark on Ottawa. He climbed up the political ladder and for his loyalty to Paul Martin, was rewarded with a cabinet position for a short period of time before being swept out of office by David Christopherson.

Out of office, I chose to kick the poor guy when he was at his lowest, by reminding readers around the time of the Athens Olympics that, were it not for the federal election called a few months earlier, our man Stan would’ve been there in his capacity as Minister of Amateur Sport.

That should’ve been the last cartoon I ever drew of him, thinking he’d soon pick himself up and go into private life eventually finding a good paying job in the private sector and never be seen again.

But no, Paul Martin had to follow in the footsteps of all past Prime Ministers and throw something to Stan in the form of a Patronage Appointment. It was off to Boston for the Loyal Martinite as the new cocktail party hosting Canadian consul-general. It made for a nice combo cartoon with the Maple Leaf Processing Plant whose fate at the time of Keyes appointment was still up in the air.

A highpoint for him may have been observing the defeat of the Liberal government from his diplomatic perch in Massachusetts, but that wouldn’t last long. Stephen Harper would replace him within a few months giving Stan the chance to leave public life for good.

But then the latest job offer came and he took the hook and bait. While it is a private sector job his post as head of the Canadian Payday Loan Association will have consequences to those poor souls who’ve come to rely on loans with ridiculous interest rates. While he says he looks forward to assisting in the regulation of the lending agencies he’s not exactly there to look out for common folk trapped in the cycle of borrowing. He’s there to lobby the government on the lenders behalf. He not in the commoners house anymore, he’s there to defend lending agencies from gouging people with exhorbitant interest rates. Pretty shameful.