We see that regular Payday Pundit reader Jon Schultz commented on NPR’s website about the “Marketplace” piece we post below:
The campaign against payday lending is a witch hunt. You cannot judge a loan by its APR without considering other factors such as the amount and term of the loan, the borrower’s other alternatives, and the lender’s costs. Even the nonprofit payday loan offered as a public service by Goodwill Industries has a 252% APR.
These consumer groups need targets to criticize to justify their existence. With their invalid stance on this issue they are hurting the very people whom they claim to be helping. Payday loans are used by people in emergencies and they save many people from having to pay higher fees of various kinds. The critics ignore customer satisfaction surveys which show that a large majority of payday loan borrowers feel they have benefited from the service.
This was a biased presentation. I expected better from NPR. Read George McGovern, please:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120485275086518279.html
Actually Marketplace is produced by American Public Media, not NPR. They sound alike…
I watched the episode and thought it was more fair-minded than I had anticipated. AEA’s spokeswoman did a good job against the CRL hatchetwoman. The lingering question is when is the CRL going to attack the predatory ‘Pick-A Pay’ toxic mortgages? That loan product put more poor people out on the street, into bankruptcy, and homeless, than any single loan product in American history.
Back to topic…I thought the NPR bias came through in flying colors when Woodruff singled out payday lenders in her interview w/ Sen. Shelby, later in the show. I think Judy needs a payday loan.