Who hates Payday loans?

Date: Fri, 01/04/2008 - 12:48

Submitted by goudah2424
on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 12:48

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Total Replies: 15

[quote]Who Hates Payday Loans: The Religious Leaders

With opposition to payday loans so strong and universal, it can seem some times like the massive coalition against cash advance lending is totally homogeneous. Perhaps you have pictured masses of faceless people picketing their local short-term, high-interest personal loan store, but you have more than likely not given much thought to who they are. Are they hardcore liberal vigilantes, for instance? Idealistic nutjobs? The truth is, that the citizens decrying fast cash loans come from many different backgrounds and walks of life, and protest the loans for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons has to do with religion.

Religious leaders have found several justifications in the Bible for their stance against payday loans. They believe that the lenders of usurious personal loans with be judged harshly, and that the dubious ethics of cash advance lending make it sinful. These authorities would rather that their flock never become associated with these credit products. Priests, pastors, rabbis, and reverends are some of the most outspoken foes of fast cash loan lending, as they are used to making their voices heard. Renowned Baptist minister Reverend Jesse Jackson has spoken often and passionately on the subject, often before state legislators considering whether payday loan restrictions would be best for their constituents.

In general, cash advance lending runs against the general message of Christianity. Charging four hundred percent interest on a payday loan, after all, is not exactly the best case of doing unto ones brother as you would like done to yourself. Some larger churches will set aside discretionary funds to help out families in need, rather than have them turn to risky, high-interest personal loans. [/quote]

[quote]Who Hates Payday Loans: Defenders of the Elderly Oppos

[quote]Who Hates Payday Loans: Defenders of the Elderly

Opposition to fast cash loans is wide and varied. The forces working against payday loans are large, but you might not know that they are comprised of so many schools of thought on the subject. Our series on cash advance antagonism here at Payday Loans ABC has so far has carried us from religious leaders, to minority activists, to government officials in state-level politics, to other consumers. Most of these folks would agree that fast cash loan merchants unfairly target certain groups of people with their unethical loan products. One group often associated with that complaint is the elderly.

Certainly, it cannot be denied that cash advance lenders love seniors. Many live paycheck-to-paycheck, forced to cope with fixed incomes due to their meager Social Security allowances, pensions, or retirement funds. Oftentimes, these resources do not stretch to meet all a household????????s needs, and so these citizens turn to payday loans. It????????s a sad fact, too, that many geriatric consumers do not have the full mental capacity to make sound decisions about their finances, due to age and illness. These consumers may make the worst decisions about fast cash loans, taking out illegal and dangerous personal loans from criminals offering so-called payday loans outside the boundaries of the law. These crooks know just what to say to lure in their unsuspecting prey, and trap them in loan obligations with triple- or quadruple-rates of interest and with predatory and usurious penalties attached.

Ergo, elderly-rights activists decry payday loans. The American Association of Retired Persons (A ARP) has set up a hotline by which older Americans can contact their state legislators to protest cash advance lending, and offers tips on how not to get suckered by predatory lending. [/quote]