I don’t know what it is with the Wall Street Journal, but they seem to have it in for the payday lending industry.   An article today about Rent-A-Center says the company asked a charity it supports not to endorse an effort to ban payday loans.  Rent-A-Center put out this reply.  

The Wall Street Journal wrongly reported this morning that Rent-A-Center threatened to end its financial support of America’s Second Harvest unless the endorsement was withdrawn. In reality, the company asked that, if the Ohio food banks were going to be members of the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, then Rent-A-Center wanted its donation to be redirected to the other 49 states “where fighting hunger was their sole purpose.”

Rent-A-Center, like any other contributor to a charitable organization, wants its donation be used for its intended purpose, not to support a group completely unrelated to the charity’s mission. According to Gus Whitcomb, VP of public affairs for Rent-A-Center, “We made a commitment to help put food on people’s tables. We don’t want our money spent on anything else.” A reasonable request.

Good for Rent-A-Center to respond so quickly and so toughly.   Wall Street Journal reporters, like most journalists, love to listen to anti-business advocacy groups and do their dirty work for them.