On December 21, 2015, the Mesquite City Council passed an ordinance to provide new registration requirements and guidelines for payday lending businesses in Mesquite beginning April 18, 2016. Mesquite joins 29 other Texas cities who have passed ordinances regulating the payday lending industry in their communities.
The new requirements include a $75 city registration fee, maintaining a record of all loans made in the previous three years and enhanced financial education/assistance programs for customers. The key features of the new guidelines include payday loans not exceeding 20 percent of the customer’s gross monthly income and restrictions on auto loans.
The ordinance also regulates the repayment procedures which payday lending business can implement and refines the agreement processes to enact stronger transparency and protection for the customer. The full ordinance may be viewed below.