Our friends at the Center for Responsible Lending have taken aim at payday loans yet again. Their newest study, Phantom Demand, is really a piece of work. They claim demand for payday loans is exaggerated.
Their major findings say that a majority of payday loans originate shortly after a previous loan is paid back, three of four loans are generated in a debt trap and households caught up in this pay an extra $3.5 billion in fees each year. Pretty lofty accusations.
You know what they say about assuming- it makes an ass of you and me. Well CRL, guess what you look like right now? Data is data, and if they say most loans originate shortly after another is paid off, then I believe them.
It’s that fuzzy part after where I have a problem. You see, just because someone gets another loan one, two or three days after paying off a previous loan, it doesn’t mean they are in some kind of debt trap. Unfortunately for CRL, no borrower is ever asked what the money is for. So they are merely guessing at intent.
But can we expect any less from the CRL? These buffoons throw out their “research” which is nothing but politically motivated bias. They make me want to puke. Payday loans,when used properly,hurt no one. Why not go after the products that when used properly are harmful? How about cigarettes? No potential for good there.
The people that unjustly fight against something have the most to gain from its demise. I wonder the CRL is standing to gain from all of this. Hopefully we never see the day when payday loans are outlawed and our freedom to choose options for ourselves is taken away from us. Then we might have two people responsible for our financial crisis running the lending industry…
