Dear Editor: Dave Zweifel’s one-man smear campaign on the payday loan industry is as misguided as it is ill-informed. Zweifel has spent his recent columns assaulting an industry whose worst crime is providing another option for borrowers in need of short-term assistance.

Research shows that when politicians respond to the calls of overzealous interest groups (and apparently columnists) to eliminate payday lending, borrowers are forced to turn to more expensive and less desirable options. Economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that after North Carolina banned payday loans, those who were experiencing financial stress turned to bounced checks, bankruptcies and delinquent bill pay.

Zweifel’s personal opposition to the industry doesn’t change the fact that consumers are better off when they have more options to choose from. Taking away these necessary options will only leave the borrower stranded in debt.

This accusation might make for good copy, but is far from the truth.  Payday lenders have some of the most consumer friendly disclosure rules in the lending business. Our disclosure policy states that all CFSA member-companies will prominently display posters in their stores explaining their fees, and will post this information to their company websites.  Knowing the fees means that no one is getting “suckered”.