The Public Service Commission is reassessing whether it should continue allowing payday loan stores to be places where people pay their utility bills.
The Commission wants to know what the public thinks of the policy that allows payday loan places to be utility bill pay stations. Not all of them are. Not all utilities use them.
Commission chairman Robert Kenney says the issue has come up as the commission reviews its consumer regulations on utility billing and payment. The Commission looked into the issue three or four years ago and got several comments and anecdotal evidence that some consumers were getting into the high-interest loan cycle when they borrowed money at payday loan shops so they could pay for their lights, water, or gas. But it took no action.
But he says the question has arisen about whether allowing payday loan stores to be utility bill pay points is good public policy.
Consumers with comments can make them through the PSC website at psc.mo.gov, then clicking on the EFIS/case filings and scrolling down to the public comment link. The commission asks consumers to refer to File number AW-2014-0329. The commission staff is to report to the full Commission by August 13.
