Tim Miller of the Center for Consumer Freedom has a great response in the today’s Capital Times to a “one-man smear campaign on the payday loan industry” by a reporter at the paper:
Dear Editor: Dave Zweifel’s one-man smear campaign on the payday loan industry is as misguided as it is ill-informed. Zweifel has spent his recent columns assaulting an industry whose worst crime is providing another option for borrowers in need of short-term assistance.
Research shows that when politicians respond to the calls of overzealous interest groups (and apparently columnists) to eliminate payday lending, borrowers are forced to turn to more expensive and less desirable options. Economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that after North Carolina banned payday loans, those who were experiencing financial stress turned to bounced checks, bankruptcies and delinquent bill pay.
Zweifel’s personal opposition to the industry doesn’t change the fact that consumers are better off when they have more options to choose from. Taking away these necessary options will only leave the borrower stranded in debt.
1 response so far ↓
1 Elite Cash Wire // Dec 2, 2008 at 9:23 pm
However, the usefulness of such payday loans highly depends on the applicant needs. For a person in emergency who expect can payback in due date, such loans may help. The condition of loan lender is important too. Very high interests are a drawback, but some companies are more customer oriented and even accept bad credit persons.
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