PROVIDENCE, R.I. - With the General Assembly just weeks away from recessing, legislation to rein in the so-called payday lending industry still appears in play.
The two sides in the debate confirmed that they met privately last week at House Speaker Gordon D. Fox's request to try and work out compromise legislation.
Fox on Wednesday said he did not expect any specific outcome from the initial meeting, which he did not attend.
"I'm not even beginning to hope there will be a compromise. But we'll see," he said. "At some point, I'll get a report and we'll see where they differ and where they meet."
Rhode Island Coalition for Payday Reform, a group that includes the AARP, the NAACP and dozens of other local religious and community organizations, said it is willing to consider new legislative options to help address their concerns.
Brett Smiley, who represented the coalition during the Friday meeting, confirmed that those options include extending the current 13-day loan term or limiting how many loans a person can take out in a given year.
The coalition has been pushing for years for legislation that would simply reduce the interest rate payday lenders can charge from a 280 percent annualized rate to a 36 percent one.
Smiley said the "informal" and "very preliminary" meeting was significant in two respects: "There is a begrudging acceptance of the reality that this issue is not going away. And so there is desire to take action and make progress towards meaningful reform. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, there is also a recognition that our coalition is open-minded and willing to hear new ideas in ways that maybe there weren't in the past."
Jamie Fulmer, spokesman for Advance America, a national payday lender, meanwhile, declined to elaborate on what his company offered during the discussions.
"As I expressed to you in the past, Advance America is always willing to participate in a constructive dialogue about ways we can work together to create an environment that promotes a balanced approach that offers strong consumer protections, while protecting consumers ability to access to regulated credit," he said via email. "Beyond that, I don't think it is appropriate at this point to discuss any specific discussions that we have had."