CBS hit piece misses target
July 28, 2008 | industry, media coverage | Comments (1)The CBS Evening News had a segment tonight on payday lending. Like much of the mainstream media pieces, it focused on a couple of extreme examples of customers who got themselves into a cycle of debt. Missing from the piece were:
- People to represent the large majority of consumers who appreciate the service and use it responsibly;
- Context about the reasons consumers use payday loans such as avoiding bounced check fees, fear of missing an important payment, etc.; and,
- An acknowledgement that the industry is making great strides in protecting consumers and avoiding the types of stories that the segment presented.
As is usually the case, the industry was ably defended by spokesperson Lyndsey Medsker, who despite sitting through a 25 minute interview with CBS, was given about 12 seconds of air time.
Comments»
per the CBS report, I would like to know who is offering the $500 loan at 28% A.P.R. to the average payday consumer? Sounded like they were doing the ohioans a favor by removing payday lenders with an alternative that doesn’t even exist.