New Report: Profiting from Poverty
1/17/12
Despite record high foreclosures, unemployment, and broken state budgets, one industry is flourishing: Payday Lending.
And, in our new report, Profiting from Poverty: How Payday Lenders Strip Wealth from the Working-Poor for Record Profits, we document just how devastating this industry is to our communities.
Major findings:
- Payday lenders take at the very least $3.4 billion from our communities every year in fees alone. This figure represents some $3.1 billion in wealth stripped from desperate borrowers -money that could have gone to buy needed groceries or school supplies- to pump up the payday lenders' fat bottom lines.
- Nationwide, revenues for the major payday loan companies (Advance America, EZ Corp, First Cash Financial, Dollar Financial, Cash America, QC Holdings) have risen to their highest level - $1.48 Billion per year- more than before the financial crisis.
- Big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and US Bank finance approximately 42% of the entire payday loan industry, providing the industry the capital for usurious and predatory loans.
It’s pretty clear that we need stricter consumer protection, and the recent appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a step in the right direction.
But we need to ensure payday lending is at a top priority for the CFPB.
If you agree, send a note to the CFPB today and tell them to act swiftly to rein in the worst payday lenders and big banks in the business immediately.
