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Payday lender rates face regulation

• BYLINE: Staff Writer
• SOURCE: Winnipeg Free Press
• DATE: April 23, 2010

WINNIPEG — The province will introduce later today regulations that will force payday lenders in Manitoba to cut their interest rates to the lowest levels in Canada.

Minister of Consumer Affairs Gord Mackintosh is expected to confirm the new regulations in an announcement this afternoon. The regulations follow the passage of precedent-setting legislation last year to cap interest rates charged by payday lenders.

The legislation was drafted to avoid a showdown with payday lenders in the Manitoba Court of Appeal. The lenders had challenged the right of the Public Utilities Board to regulate their operation. The legislation effectively eliminated the grounds on which the lenders had launched their legal challenge.