PHOENIX — Joined by a coalition of consumer groups, the Arizona Credit Union System said this week it is stepping up its lobbying activities to defeat a well-financed campaign by payday lenders to adopt enabling legislation on the Nov. 4 ballot.

In an e-mail blitz rousing its members, the Arizona trade group said it is "weighing in Proposition 200–the Payday Loan Reform Act–by urging the 1.6 million credit union members statewide to vote No!" on the proposition, which largely frees the payday firms from future lawmaker review to charge predatory rates.

In a TV and newspaper ad campaign costing $10 million, the payday lobby, Arizona Community Financial Services Association, has championed Prop 200 as a reform issue, a claim mocked by the opposition, including Scott Earl, the president/CEO of the System, who called it "a frightening prospect" that the payday group can "write its own law and pass it as reform and the legislature can't touch it."