*Somerset, NJ – Last Friday at the 4th Annual Dfree® Financial Freedom Conference, hundreds of Black church leaders from around the nation gathered to launch a national strategy to end short term, high interest lending (known as payday loans), that has undermined financial capacity among many Black Americans. Read the entire story here.
In response to payday lending practices, churches have started programs to help the poor escape their debt. Correspondent Lucky Severson reports from Birmingham, Alabama on lenders who target and trap the most vulnerable. Click here to read the transcript at pbs.org.
When the Texas legislature failed to enact regulations against what many call predatory lending, Mesquite city Council members addressed the issue themselves. Read the entire story here at IonMesquite.com.
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,…
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa | A Tuesday forum at Dordt College will examine how payday loans are often used by Iowans. The event will be from 7-10 p.m. at the Dordt College Science Building, Room 1606, 498 Fourth Ave. Northeast, in Sioux Center. Read the full article here.
A pair of panelists who’ll take part in a Monday discussion on payday lending raised warnings about the practice. “We recognize there is a need for short-term loans. But there are socially just ways to do that,” said Katie Thompson of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Public Justice. Read the full story here.
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…
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.”…
POSTED BY LAUREN WALKER AND JEFFREY BLOEM at SharedJustice.org In 2012, on the corner of Park and Minnehaha in South Minneapolis, a Cash Express storefront opened, and members of nearby Holy Trinity Church took note. At first they were optimistic – there was now one less empty storefront – but soon they started asking questions.…
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…