More fair and balanced
April 28, 2009 | NPR, industry, research | Comments (0)NPR’s Marketlace has a very balanced story on payday lending. Pay special attention to the University of Chicago professor who discusses the need for the loans and makes some reasonable suggestions.
The problem with consumer groups
April 28, 2009 | Uncategorized | Comments (0)PDLindustryblog fills us in.
We missed him, too
April 28, 2009 | South Carolina, The State, Warren Bolton, industry, regulation | Comments (0)Whenever we go too long without a Warren Bolton column, it just doesn’t feel right. From his 283rd anti-payday lending screed:
WITH THE S.C. House having capitulated and passed a bill feigning to regulate payday lending, and many in the Senate eager to do the same, possibly even this week, some lawmakers who want strict rules might be willing to allow the legalized loan sharks to continue their predatory ways.
Oh, Warren. You’re not even trying. You can do better than that. You’re getting hackneyed, trite, boring.
Most ironic headline in history of civilization
April 27, 2009 | alternatives, industry | Comments (0)We had to read this twice.
Lowly reporting
April 27, 2009 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (1)As we’ve said, focusing on campaign contributions is simply lazy, gratuitous, biased reporting:
A study by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found Gutiérrez 11th among Congressional recipients of campaign donations from the payday-loan industry. The study says Gutiérrez accepted $18,500 dollars from the industry during the last election cycle.
So? How much money did he raise in total? How much money did banks and credit unions give him?
Get involved
April 27, 2009 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)What are you waiting for? ConsumersRightsCoalition.org.
What do credit card changes mean
April 27, 2009 | alternatives, industry | Comments (0)This guy seems to have figured it out. And Walletpop has some thoughts.
Yes, credit unions are getting in the business
April 27, 2009 | Uncategorized | Comments (0)PDLindustryblog has some thoughts.
Stuck in the middle
April 27, 2009 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)This Congressional Quarterly story pretty much sums up the bind Rep. Gutierrez has put himself in with his Payday Loan Reform bill:
Meanwhile, in an effort to fend off federal regulation, the industry’s trade group, the Community Financial Services Association, has in the last two years ramped up its lobbying, paying more than $1.5 million to 11 lobbying firms. Among the hired guns is Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the Colorado Republican who retired from the Senate in 2004.
Despite the consumer advocates’ successes, Gutierrez says they “are fighting an uphill battle against better-funded lobbyists” and should settle for his bill. At a hearing this month by the House Financial Services subcommittee that he chairs, Gutierrez lashed out at Jean Ann Fox, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America for her intransigence. “Ms. Fox,” he said, “you don’t like the payday. I don’t like the payday. You wish to eliminate it. You wish to ban it. That’s not possible.”
Calling something reform doesn’t make it so. It’s an anti-payday lending bill.
You could knock me over with a feather
April 25, 2009 | alternatives, industry, media coverage | Comments (0)This is a fair and balanced article about payday lending versus credit union alternatives:
About a half-dozen credit unions nationwide have gone head-to-head with the payday industry, says Steve Schlein, spokesman for the Community Lenders Association of America, a payday lenders group. “Whenever we’ve investigated, we found very few are cheaper than payday loans,” he said.
Indeed, for a single two-week loan of $100, a customer would be better off at a payday loan shop than at St. Louis Community Credit Union, figuring both interest and the credit union’s annual fee.
As usual, CFSA’s Steven Schlein is out on the front lines defending the industry brilliantly.
