A terrific guest opinion piece today in the Spartanburg Herald Journal from State Assemblyman Harold Mitchell:

Critical resources, including the time and attention of S.C. lawmakers, should be focused first and foremost on rebuilding our economy, mitigating the rising unemployment rate and diminishing the level of poverty in the state.

Banning payday lending — or even pursuing an effective ban through the imposition of a 36 percent annual percentage rate (APR) cap on payday lending fees — will not alleviate these problems. Poverty and financial instability — especially among African-Americans — is not a result of the payday lending industry; it is a result of an extensive list of statewide deficiencies including health disparities, a lack of employment opportunities, crime and poor public school performance.

Opponents of the payday advance industry tend to paint all borrowers with the same broad brush — emphasizing anecdotal stories describing payday lending customers as poor, uneducated (and often minorities) in cycles of debt. In reality, the industry’s national data show the average payday loan customer has an annual income of $41,000 and has some college education. Furthermore, among households within a one-mile radius of a payday advance store, 63 percent of the households’ occupants are white, and 50 percent own their own homes.

Assemblyman Mitchell is more in touch with his constituents than the so-called “consumer” groups that think they know what’s best for everyone.