Catholic groups aim to curtail payday lending

Claudette Humphrey of Salina, Kansas, found herself caught in a debt-trap of payday loans, despondent and wondering if she would ever get out. “It’s desperation that gets you to walk into the door of a predatory lender and guilt and shame that keeps you there,” she told Our Sunday Visitor. “I remember sometimes just crying,…

Auto Title Lending: Plundering and Devouring the Poor?

Nate Frierson currently works at the Center for Public Justice. While working for Faith for Just Lending, Nate learned from people around the country how unjust lending practices have increased the hardship of those in poverty. Click below to read Nate’s look at a Biblical perspective on money lending, and an explanation of Christian tradition regarding…

Letters to Congressional Leadership

In November, Faith for Just Lending penned a letter to Congressional leadership urging a strong reform, rather than weak limits embodied in some states such as Florida. Florida currently allows interest rates in excess of 300% APR. “Our nation can do better than putting the entire burden on desperate people to ensure they are not being preyed upon.”…

Payday Lending Hurts Families

On a visit last year to a community organization that receives funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, I heard the story of a woman working in a retail store, barely keeping her head above water. When the bills piled up, she took out a two-week payday loan. Six months later, she was still…