Payday Pundit

America’s #1 Populist, Jim Hightower, has jumped on the anti-payday lending bandwagon and denounced payday loans.  Like so many of the anti-payday lending groups, Mr. Hightower demands that payday lending businesses be shuttered to protect “very-low-wage working people – those living paycheck to paycheck who can least afford to have their pockets picked” but fails […]

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The Phoenix Business Journal reports that “200isNoReform.com” is now “Arizonians for Responsible Lending,” yet another branch of the Center for Responsible Lending and is working to strip Arizonians of their financial choices by capping payday lending at a 36% annual interest rate. The Payday Pundit has said it once and will probably have to say […]

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An Ohio State University professor details what employees can do to be considered “most valued employees” by their boss. Listed in what not to do:

Do not ask your employer for loans and pay advances. Your employer is not a banker. Asking for loans and pay advances suggests that you cannot manage your finances. Such a […]

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CNN reports: Automatic overdraft loans can look like a consumer’s best friend, but they can come at a steep cost.
Our friends at the Consumer Federation of America had this to say: “Banks should have to get their customers’ affirmative consent before signing them up for their most expensive loans.”  And the Center for Responsible Lending added, […]

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In case you didn’t know…
The Center for Responsible Lending’s Self-Helf Credit Union charges $25 per bounced check.  This is for both checks and electronic withdrawls.
So, a money saving tip for CRL- if you are about to bounce a check for $100 or less, you could save yourself $10 by visiting your local payday lender and […]

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The Center for Responsible Lending is in the news again.  This time the Wall Street Journal has singled the group out, along with ACORN.
The WSJ urges scrutiny of the “affordable housing allocations” section of Chris Dodd’s mortgage bailout legislation, stating that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank have, “written the bill to steer the cash toward […]

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Washington Post columnist Nancy Trejos is skeptical.   From her column today which discusses the recent Federal Reserve proposal to crack down on “deceptive” practices:
“The OTS {Office of Thrift Supervision} and Fed proposal show that these agencies recognize that abusive overdraft loans are a significant problem,” said Eric Halperin, DC director of the Center for Responsible […]

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Ohio’s Buckeye Institute asks, Is the Center for Responsible Lending being Hypocritical? They write:
 ”…there is research indicating that CRL is being funded by organizations that have business practices are not much different than those being used by payday lenders. While CRL’s research should be examined on its own merits (and it has been found lacking when […]

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Center for Responsible Lending’s favorite hedge fund manager, John Paulson of the Paulson & Company, bet against homeowners and won according to this story.    From the story:
    “Paulson acquired his money by betting against the subprime mortgage market, using a complicated system that increased his earnings as the value of financial instruments bundling the mortgages dropped.”
As […]

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The Center for Responsible Lending continues to promote a report, “Financial Quicksand” that reaches conclusions about the payday lending industry that have been debunked by Veritec Solutions, the data gathering company whose numbers CRL misused. 
Veritec found that conclusions made in the CRL Report are not an accurate reflection of statistical information.
False conclusion #1: Ninety percent of payday lending revenues are based […]

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