Dr. Stephen Graves, a professor at Cal State Northridge, has been doing some interesting research about payday loans. He has a variety of articles that supposedly exploit payday lenders for the predatory loan sharks they are.
This is another case of someone working backwards. Rather than start with a question, gather data, and draw a conclusion, payday loan critics are famous for drawing a conclusion, then going backwards and seeking data to support their misplaced hatred.
For example, Dr. Graves has two studies, one comparing payday lenders to McDonald’s, the other to Starbucks. He shows that payday lenders are in poorer neighborhoods and minority neighborhoods more often than McDonald’s and Starbucks. Um, meaning what exactly? Oh,that we are evil because clearly we must be targeting the poor and minorities,and because there are more payday lenders than Starbucks or McDonald’s.
Do intelligent people really believe this nonsense? Should I run an analysis on BMW, Ferrari and used car dealerships? Gasp! Those used car dealerships must be targeting the poor and minorities those low-lives! There’s more of them than BMW and Ferrari dealerships combined and they are in poor, minority neighborhoods!
Or could it be that the poor have no need for a Ferrari dealership? Could it be that demand for BMWs doesn’t meet the demand for cheaper, used cars? Yet Dr. Graves compares payday lenders to fast food and coffee chains. So what? There’s more demand for payday loans than fast food or coffee in poorer neighborhoods, how is this bad in any way?
He also has a study on usury laws and the Bible and why Christians should be so against payday lending. First off, not a single scripture in the New Testament mentions interest or usury. Those all come from the Old Testament, or the old Mosaic law. That’s the Jewish law, not Christian law.
Secondly, even if we were to all follow this Jewish law as if it were a Christian law, the scriptures all say to charge absolutely no usury or interest to anyone. So why are payday lenders singled out here? Name one lender in the entire universe who will lend money for ZERO interest to anyone. That’s what I thought.
Payday loans are just another option for people who don’t have very many. They are not predatory or evil in anyway, they can be misused like any other product. When used properly, payday loans can be a lifesaver to those in need.
