 As soon as you make a payment, it's like it's time for another payment and they never stop calling. I feel like they were stolen from me, right from under my nose. The moment you get into this type of loans, it's a circle. It's a really vicious circle and it's not really easy to get out of. Loan companies, they tack on all them fees. That's not good for me. For $1,200, I ended up paying $5,000. That money kind of went towards my business. I've learned my lesson. I've been burned. I'm not taking out any more loans. I guess I can honestly see why people say like, don't get payday loans. I would never recommend that they all utilize their payday loan because of what you got to pay back. You know you're going to pay extra because it's a loan, but you don't realize how much extra you're going to pay. A little bit of an uncomfortable situation regardless, just knowing that this is a high interest rate loan. And if I do have trouble paying it back, this is over the long term going to cost a lot more than what I borrowed. So that was the main concern. I ended up being homeless because I could not pay rent and that title loan. For more than 35 years, high-interest personal loans in Illinois have sapped billions of dollars from people already in need of some quick cash struggling to make ends meet. For many years, there were no limits on what lenders could charge. In 2005, Illinois enacted caps on interest rates, but payday lenders were still allowed to charge as much as 404% interest. There was no cap at all on the interest rate for an auto title loan. However, some of our neighbors have been hurt more than others. According to 2021 research by Woodstock Institute and New America, the Chicago Zip Codes with the highest amounts of payday lending are also highly concentrated black communities. The Chicago Zip Code with the highest payday lending per person is also the Chicago Zip Code with the highest percentage of black residents. The Chicago Zip Code with the lowest amount of payday lending consists of only 4% black residents and 6% Latinx residents. You see a lot of payday loan places, you know, in African American communities, more than probably anywhere else, because they make it so easy to get the money. But then you don't think about, like I said before, you don't think about all the money that you have to pay back. It's like triple the money that you, you know, have taken out. They're constantly calling me, it's like, you owe this money if you don't pay, you want to go and finish your check or take you to court. It's ridiculous to money, you're paying back almost three times what you're borrowing. And that's how you get caught up with the loan companies is that they make a lot of money off of you and you take forever paying back and it's just, it's ridiculous. Access to small dollar credit should not come at a greater cost to black and Latinx Illinois residents. Predatory lenders have profited enough off of these communities for far too long. Fortunately, Illinois borrowers do not have to pay excessive interest rates anymore, thanks to a new law. In January 2021, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus spearheaded the passage of the Predatory Loan Prevention Act, or PLPA. The PLPA capped interest rates for personal loans in Illinois at 36%. Personal loans are still legal in Illinois, just not triple digit interest rates. If they put a cap on it, it's definitely good because you'll get some places that are trying to charge you like 100% interest. I think this is a great thing. I said, I've been on board for several years fighting for this legislation, you know, I have. And I really think it's time, you know, they are, they are loan sharks, they're predatory. Well, I think it's a positive change in the way that them, not every lender can just charge whatever they want. I think anything that can help people, you know, that are in a financial jam, you know, level the playing field a little bit more for them. Because things happen to people in life, unexpected things.