From the story:

The Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Inc., Arise Citizens’ Policy Project, the Alabama Poverty Project and AARP Alabama joined forces Thursday to sponsor a summit on the high cost of credit for low-income residents in the state and what can be done to protect consumers.

Shay Farley, legal director for Alabama Appleseed, said part of the goal of the summit was to develop strategies to stop predatory, short-term lending in the state, particularly payday lending. Farley said the groups want to build vocal coalitions that will expose predatory lending practices and raise awareness about how harmful they are to low-income Alabamians. Advocates and legislators who have gone to bat for such issues in the Alabama Legislature told the groups they’ll need those voices if they hope to compete with the lobbyists who represent the short-term loan industry.

Another group with no answer to how consumers can get access to short-term credit.

One of those lead generator companies that fills up Google News with nonsense posted something ridiculous today:

If you are thinking of going under the knife of a surgeon for enhancing your facial features or want to immediately repair some damages to your skin, then you can avail instant plastic surgery loans in the same day, such an emergency money is specially useful when you do not have much money left in hands at the end of a month.

From National Review:

JP Morgan Chase Foundation: $5,007,500 and $300,000 to separate state-level ACORN units
Bank of America Charitable Foundation: $1,405,000
US Bancorp Foundation: $285,000 and $470,000 to ACORN Housing of Illinois
PNC Foundation: $95,000
Wachovia Foundation: $5,000
Provident Bank Foundation: $5,000

Makes sense.  ACORN is essentially a protection racket and these banks bought themselves protection.   Sic the protesters on someone else.

Traditionally, news releases need to contain news.   The Center for Responsible Lending, though, thinks the world awaits its every predictable opinion.  They should have headlined this release, “Yada, yada, yada.”

That’s the way one newspaper is depicting yesterday’s announcement that two major banks would cut overdraft fees:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said in an interview that he supports the moves by Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. But Frank said he will still push forward with legislation requiring changes in overdraft policies at banks. The Federal Reserve is also considering strict curbs on overdraft fees that could be finalized later this year.

The policy change by the two giant banks “confirms that it’s doable,” Frank said. “No one else will be able to argue that it’s too burdensome.”

ACORN is fighting back:

First, ACORN’s top officials have been on a media apology tour and have dismissed the wayward employees in the infamous pimp video as bad apples who shouldn’t diminish the important work the group does in housing and low-income assistance. Then on Wednesday afternoon, ACORN went on the legal offensive, suing conservative filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles for secretly videotaping in their office.

And finally, the group is launching a charm offensive on Capitol Hill, as its Washington lobbying shop has been quietly meeting with sympathetic congressional offices, reminding them that ACORN’s services help low-income residents of urban areas.

Even if it means a trip to the pawn shop.

Good story here on yesterday’s hearing:

“The need for a dedicated, consolidated consumer protection agency is clear. The current consumer protection system failed,” {Giethner} told the House Financial Services Committee.

The CFPA would be a central consumer protection overseer handling laws now vested in several existing agencies, including the Federal Reserve, which have been criticized widely for their past performance.

Committee Chairman Barney Frank said existing regulators’ record on consumer protection is “abysmal.”

But critics have said the CFPA would only tangle businesses in more government red-tape at greater cost to taxpayers.

As far as I could tell, no mention of payday lending yesterday.

This story sums it up:

The proposed 36 percent rate cap on the annual percentage rate would wipe out the industry in Wisconsin, eliminating more than 1,100 jobs, because it no longer would be profitable, predicted Jamie Fulmer, a Wisconsin spokesman for Advance America Cash Advance, the nation’s largest payday lending firm, which has 2,700 offices in 33 states. The company operates 67 offices in Wisconsin, including one in Eau Claire.

Fulmer argued it’s unfair to apply the APR to a loan intended to be repaid in two weeks. Wisconsin consumers generally pay a flat $20 fee to borrow $100 for two weeks, and 97 percent pay those loans back within a day or two of the due date, he added.

Applying a 36 percent APR to a two-week loan for $100 would generate a finance charge of only $1.38, which wouldn’t provide enough income to cover overhead costs, Fulmer said.

“The current bill is certainly not just an attempt at additional regulation of the payday loan industry; it’s an attempt to eliminate the payday loan industry,” he said. “It is our belief that there are certainly better ways to provide additional protection to consumers than by eliminating an industry altogether.”

WOW hard hitting WRITTEN TESTOMY? So this way he doesnt have to appear or answer questions about a subject he knows nothing about.Not to mention this guy supports casinos in Ohio,cause he cares about Ohios most vulnerable.Ohio with its over 10% unemployment doing its best to raise that number.  Strickland,Corday,Harris,Lundy can Ohio take anymore?