Yeah, we don’t do that…
July 29, 2010 | Washington Post, industry | Comments (0)Michelle Singletary throws a little hissy in the Washington Post today about payday lenders supposedly drawing from folks’ social security benefits.
I guess it doesn’t matter that CFSA denounced the same practice last week.
Lynn DeVault, board chair of CFSA, said she knows of no payday advance companies that engage in this practice and that the industry strongly supports efforts to block all lenders from gaining access to a borrower’s bank account through these sub-account arrangements.
Dodd-Frank: Act I, Title XII
July 28, 2010 | Huffington Post, federal legislation | Comments (1)
We’re all aware of the new bill in Illinois, but the Huffington Post doles out the latest on small-dollar loan initiatives in the Dodd-Frank Act:
Title XII of the Act “encourage[s] initiatives for financial products and services that are appropriate and accessible for millions of Americans who are not fully incorporated into the financial mainstream.” Specifically, the Act will incentivize financial institutions to offer low-cost, small-dollar loans that serve as safe alternatives to payday loans.
Who needs a fact checker?
July 27, 2010 | Colorado, NPR | Comments (0)The NPR station in Colorado reports on the new payday lending regulation there and mentions that payday lenders in the state are rightly concerned that consumers won’t have access to emergency funds when a need arises. To refute the point, they quote the co-chair of “Coloradans for Payday Lending Reform” simply asserting that there are less expensive alternatives available. Oh really? Well, I certainly wouldn’t want a news organization to strain anything, ya know, calling alternative providers, doing the math to compare the rates, seeing how many people would actually be eligible to use the services in member-only credit unions, checking on the membership fees themselves…
Yeah, fact checking is a tough job, and apparently nobody has to do it as long as you’ve got someone with a vested interest willing to make a declaration.
Speaking of a waste of money…
July 27, 2010 | Cincinnati Enquirer, Financial Reform Bill - CFPB, Ohio, best practices | Comments (0)Mary Hulburt from Consumer Credit Counseling Services–an organization which charges consumers to renegotiate their debt for them–has an oped in the Cincinnati Enquirer today where she mentions, among other things, payday loan debt.
She could have just directed the individual back to the free extended payment plan at payday loan stores, but then I guess the CCCS wouldn’t have gotten its cut. Looking out for consumers’ best interests indeed.
The Washington Post weighs in
April 7, 2010 | Washington Post, federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)Not surprisinggly, their editorial board thinks the GOP should got on the financial reform bandwagon. From today’s edtorial:
Politically, the White House may well be correct. President Obama and congressional Democrats can afford to play hardball: If they get a bill that reflects mainly their ideas, they win; if the Republicans kill it with a filibuster, Democrats win anyway. This only makes the Republican leadership’s apparent strategy that much more puzzling. By all means, the GOP should leverage its 41 Senate votes to obtain reasonable concessions on genuine issues. But it should not play the politics of no. And if the GOP does offer to bargain in good faith, even at this relatively late date, the administration should respond positively. Whatever the politics, contributions from both sides would produce the best — and most politically sustainable — financial regulatory reform for the country.
Comment of the Day
March 18, 2010 | NPR, federal legislation, industry | Comments (2)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
“A valuable service”
March 18, 2010 | Arizona, Arizona Republic, industry, positive media coverage | Comments (1)From a letter in the Arizona Republic:
Just as check-cashing places charge a fee to cash a check as an alternative to banks and credit unions, payday-loan stores also charge a fee for what they do.
They do not charge “interest,” and considering what service they provide, their fee is fairer by far than what the banks and credit-card companies fee us and charge us to death in various ways.
Biased coverage
March 17, 2010 | Center for Responsible Lending, industry, media coverage | Comments (1)The crux of my complaints about the biased coverage of payday lending lending:
- “Profits”–There continues to be the glib assertion in many stories that the industry makes large profits. I challenge any reporter to provide evidence of this. The public companies report profits of between four and eight percent.
- Lobbying–The media covers all industry lobbying activity, including ours, as if there is something devious about it despite the fact that it’s a constitutionally protected practice that is vital to democracy. Our critics’ lobbying efforts are virtually unreported on. Has there ever been a story about how many lobbyists Center for Responsible Lending has? Or how many they hired after receiving money from billionaire hedge fund mogul John Paulson? Of course not.
- Perspective–The payday lending industry makes $345 loans on average. Its total revenues are just over $7 billion. The industry has no macro impact on the economy. Does this industry warrant the relentless coverage that it’s receiving?
Yea, so
March 11, 2010 | Tennessee, industry, media coverage | Comments (0)The media continues to be surprised that the industry is working hard to protect its customers, employees and shareholders.
CFPA in “limbo”
February 14, 2010 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, industry | Comments (0)I hope that’s the place bad ideas go before they die. From the Fort Worth Star Telegram:
President Barack Obama’s proposal to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency came in with a bang. But it appears to be going out with a whimper.
