Tommy Moore, the Executive Vice President of the Community Financial Services Association of America, has a letter in today’s Christian Science Monitor echoing the favorable comments in this terrific guest column by Tim Miller of the Center for Consumer Freedom from a few days ago:

In response to Tim Miller’s recent Opinion piece on banning payday loans: Critics of the payday advance industry claim to be representing the best interest of the consumer, yet they want to limit the already small number of short-term credit options available. Many of these critics have never taken out a payday advance before, nor ever needed short-term credit, yet they know “what is best” for everyone. Payday advance customers have strong sentiments against the government limiting their access to these advances. They want to be able to make their own financial choices.

Based on the reasons customers choose payday advance, limiting their use would, in most cases, drive them to more expensive and less desirable alternatives that they had previously tried to avoid.

At this time, no one is offering any real alternatives to payday advances. To date, almost all of the attempts to create payday advance alternatives have either been charity-based, required government subsidies, unavailable to the general public, unprofitable, or unsustainable. Hopefully politicians will quit spouting rhetoric and stop ignoring the only people whose opinions should really matter – the customers who use the service and the employees whose jobs are on the line.

Tommy Moore
Alexandria, Va.

 

 A letter to the editor from Tommy Moore can be found on the Chicago Tribune website.  It’s recommended reading:

Consumers have a right to determine their own financial destiny and make their own choices for what’s best for their financial situation and their families.

In another well put letter to the editor in response to a Star-Telegram guest editorial, Tommy Moore defends the practice of payday lending against those who would “help” consumers by taking away their choices.

As Justice Brandeis said:

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment of men of zeal, well-meaning but without under-standing.

- Justice Louis Brandeis Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 479 (1928)

Tommy Moore discuss the negative impacts of payday loan bans in his most recent LTE.

Today’s issue of The State features a letter to the editor from Tommy Moore of the Community Financial Services Association.  In the letter, Moore defends payday loans in the face of recent coverage of legislative initiatives in South Carolina. 

It’s good to see another side of this issue presented.

In a letter published in the Virginian Pilot today, CFSA’s Executive Vice President Tommy Moore takes issue with the ”compromise” legislation that he says painted ”all borrowers with one broad brush.”  From Tommy’s letter:

“Opponents of our industry have always been singularly focused on the elimination of this industry through outright repeal or by placing prohibitive restrictions on the product we offer to consumers. Virginians deserve the freedom to make their own financial decisions, choosing credit products that best suit their needs and their families.”  

“We appreciate the effort of the General Assembly and Governor to forge a compromise on a complex issue; the result is one of the most restrictive payday-lending laws in the country. In addition, Governor Kaine deserves  credit for acknowledging that the work of the General Assembly was difficult and that the compromise developed during the legislative process represented a careful balance, which should now be given the chance to work.

“Still, we continue to have concerns about how lenders will be able to operate under this regulatory framework and how consumers will adjust to what is essentially a new credit product. The additional regulations included in this legislation change what consumers tell us they like about payday loans – that they offer a simple, transparent and straight-forward avenue for managing unexpected expenses. Some lenders will no doubt be forced to close as a result of this new law, and others will be significantly impacted.

“We have always maintained that the best consumer safeguards ensure continued availability of payday loans while protecting those who misuse them and other financial products. But we have difficulty with painting all borrowers with the same broad brush; this legislation does that, and unfortunately penalizes responsible borrowers. It does not effectively balance protections from excessive debt and preserving access to credit.

“Our customers recognize that payday loans are often their least-costly option, helping them to avoid unregulated alternatives like off-shore Internet lending operations as well as recurring debt or stiff fees associated with credit cards, bouncing a check or neglecting a bill.

“Opponents of our industry have always been singularly focused on the elimination of this industry through outright repeal or by placing prohibitive restrictions on the product we offer to consumers. Virginians deserve the freedom to make their own financial decisions, choosing credit products that best suit their needs and their families.

– Tommy Moore, Executive Vice President, Community Financial Services Association