If you need to borrow money, Mississippi is one of the easiest places in the country to get a quick loan. No matter how desperate you are, if you have a job, the odds are one of Mississippi’s 1200 payday lending offices (an average of 14 per county) will be there to serve you. “Do you have a job?” If the answer is “yes,” there aren’t any more questions — you get the money. Of course, it will be at a very high rate — 18 percent for two weeks, but when that becomes a problem to repay, they’ll work with you until the interest rate you owe for your emergency loan has grown into the high-triple digits.

Short-term lending has become one of our state’s premier growth industries. State law has facilitated the opening of nearly 1200 payday loan offices in our state. Colloquially known as “payday lenders,” these companies operate from small storefront outlets and specialize in providing up to $400 to strapped borrowers who use their next paycheck as collateral. In exchange for providing this service, the lender charges a state-regulated fee, $18 on each $100 borrowed.

This new industry has grown remarkably fast. In 1998, according to Mississippi finance officials, there were fewer than 300 outlets in the state. Eight years later, the number of lenders has grown to 1200, and they’re making 100,000 loans each month, totaling more than $264 million every year; the amount of interest collected yearly on payday loans in Mississippi is approximately $177,390,000.

The financial transaction that so many Mississippians have come to depend on is simple. A borrower uses the promise of his next paycheck to get a small amount of money — usually less than $400 — right away. He writes a personal check to the lender for the amount of the loan, minus a fee. The lender agrees not to cash it until the borrower deposits his paycheck, usually within two weeks.

If the transaction ended here, a quick emergency loan with a high interest rate might not cause too much concern. But that’s not where the story usually ends. If the borrower cannot make the payment deadline he has to postpone paying the entire principal — thus, he is opting to pay another fee. If that cycle continues, the debt piles up, and the borrower is soon trapped underneath ever-increasing charges.

No one questions that the average Mississippi payday borrower isn’t paying back his loan promptly. But in the interest of basic economic fairness, we need some legislation to give that average Mississippian a fighting chance to regain financial stability.

To help bring accountability and resolution to the problem, we recommend:

• prohibiting unlimited loan renewals; borrowers would be limited to two renewals for a loan;

• limiting the amount of all outstanding payday loans a person has with licensed lenders to 25 percent of gross monthly income;

• implementing a new centralized computer database to monitor compliance; the database will track who is borrowing, how much they borrow and where and how many payday loans they have throughout the state; and

• placing a moratorium on new payday lending licenses until all payday lenders set up the data base to monitor compliance with the foregoing regulations.