Prairie State Wire

Billie Aschmeller, an Illinois resident, is one of many Americans suffering from the onslaught of predatory loans.

Aschmeller, a Downstate Springfield resident, took out a $596 short-term loan with a 304 percent annual interest rate. She thought that she could pay it back right away seeing that the amount was small enough.

But as what often happens to people taking out short-term loans, other expenses kept coming and kept piling up so that Aschmeller failed to settle her debt. The $596 loan she took started to rapidly gain interest and because she used the payday and car title loan route she almost lost her one mode of transportation trying to repay her increasing debt.

Her financial troubles grew to the point that she couldn’t afford to live anywhere but inside her car.

Now, Aschmeller is an activist calling out Illinois to curb high-interest short-term loans to protect fellow consumers from predatory lending.

She spoke about her experience trying desperately to repay her debts. She said that she was “like a hamster on one of those wheels,” because repaying her debt from short-term loans seemed like a never-ending cycle.

Illinois aims to help get rid of predatory lending by approving a bill called the Illinois Predatory Loan Prevention Act, which is a signature away from becoming a law. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign the bill but some are wary that he won’t or that other bills will weaken this one.

The HB 3192 and SB 2306 are said to be hostile trailer bills that will weaken the Predatory Loan Prevention Act. Some are hoping that the Prevention Act would serve its purpose without any hindrances from other bills.