Payday Pundit

This time, it’s the City Council of Columbia SC.    It wants to keep new payday lending stores at least a half mile from current ones.  From the article:

“I don’t want to put an upscale restaurant on a block where there are four payday lenders,” said the Rev. Wiley Cooper, who leads a committee that will present the proposed ordinance to City Council on Wednesday.

But lenders say restricting where they can operate is a veiled attempt to shut the industry down. They say the city doesn’t prohibit banks or pharmacies from opening across the street from one another.

“That is simply an argument that critics use to paint this industry in a negative light,” said Jamie Fulmer, spokesman for Advance America, the Spartanburg-based company that is the nation’s largest payday lender. “It ignores the fact that thousands of South Carolinians use this product every year.”

Jamie Fulmer is, of course, right.  Council members, legislators and other critics ignore the fact that millions of customers across the country use and appreciate the service.