On September 18th the D.C. City Council is expected to finalize action on legislation sponsored by Councilmember Mary Cheh (Ward 3) to subject predatory payday lenders to the 24% APR usury ceilings other small loan companies face. Payday lenders in the District now charge annual interest of up to 550% -- more than 20 times the legal limit for other lenders. Bill B17 -0132, the Payday Loan Consumer Protection Act of 2007 is supported by all leading consumer, civil rights, poverty and religious action groups and a coalition. The coalition has a news conference (scroll down) with several former payday staffers turned whistle-blowers scheduled for Wednesday September 12 at the District building. On July 10, the preliminary vote for the legislation was 12-0-1, with former Mayor (some time ago now!) Marion Barry, the only abstention. Barry (Ward 8), originally co-introduced the bill with Cheh, but has since joined forces with the industry lobby, which has been spending a lot of the cash bilked out of D.C. residents' pockets on a series of ads claiming that they are, in fact, the good guys. Well, did you expect them to say, "Yes, we are loan sharks?" Expect Barry to offer and withdraw, for lack of support, a pro-industry amendment to "regulate" the industry, but not "ban" it.