SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For This 'Shark Week,' Grassroots Alliance Targets Predators of the Poor
Payday loans 'trap 12 million Americans in a devastating cycle of debt annually,' National People's Action says
Jul 06, 2015
At long last, shark week has come--that time of year when bloodthirsty predators get a moment in the media spotlight. Only it's not the shark week you're thinking of.
In time with the Discovery Channel's week of programming that portrays intelligent and social animals as the vicious butchers of the sea, the National People's Action (NPA), a grassroots coalition, is launching a campaign to highlight the payday loans that devour millions of Americans in a "devastating cycle of debt" every year.
From July 6-10, under the banners #SharkWeek and #StopTheDebtTrap, NPA will publish stories of "loan shark attack survivors"; circulate a petition calling for an end to the most deceptive and abusive lending practices; and hold on-the-ground events in 11 states, among other actions.
"The most dangerous sharks in America aren't found in the sea," NPA said on Monday. "They're the payday loan sharks lurking on neighborhood corners and on the Internet and they offer small dollar loans that take a big bite out of family budgets with interest rates averaging roughly 300 percent."
In addition to those kinds of dizzying interest rates, payday loans also use "deceptive terms, automatic 'rollovers', [and] staggering fees" to drain borrowers of more than $10 million annually.
"These sharks target their attacks. Storefront payday lenders are much more likely to target People of Color and low-income workers who can least afford these loans," NPA writes.
"The most dangerous sharks in America aren't found in the sea. They're the payday loan sharks lurking on neighborhood corners and on the Internet and they offer small dollar loans that take a big bite out of family budgets with interest rates averaging roughly 300 percent."
--National People's Action
Previous studies have found that payday lenders are much more likely to set up shop in predominantly black and Latino communities than white communities.
In its first feature of the week, NPA shares the experience of a woman named Candice, who was forced to use a payday loan at age 23 to make ends meet after her work cut her hours. But soon after taking out one loan, Candice found herself trapped in a cycle of debt, as the sky-high interest rates on one loan forced her to take out another just to pay it back on time.
In one year, Candice was near bankruptcy, had lost her car and apartment, and had missed out on job opportunities.
But Candice is just one in 12 million Americans who fall victim to similar predatory lending schemes every year, according to NPA.
"Loan shark attacks are a financial disaster for millions of hard working families," the NPA states. "Payday borrowers are twice as likely to file for bankruptcy as households with similar incomes who were denied a loan and 92% more likely to become delinquent on their credit cards or lose their bank accounts."
While the NPA campaign is timed to coincide with the annual television event, it also comes in anticipation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) releasing a new rule on small dollar payday loans, which is expected to come out this fall.
To that end, NPA is calling on the CFPB to issue "a strong, broad and effective rule...that will put a stop to the worst of these abuses."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
At long last, shark week has come--that time of year when bloodthirsty predators get a moment in the media spotlight. Only it's not the shark week you're thinking of.
In time with the Discovery Channel's week of programming that portrays intelligent and social animals as the vicious butchers of the sea, the National People's Action (NPA), a grassroots coalition, is launching a campaign to highlight the payday loans that devour millions of Americans in a "devastating cycle of debt" every year.
From July 6-10, under the banners #SharkWeek and #StopTheDebtTrap, NPA will publish stories of "loan shark attack survivors"; circulate a petition calling for an end to the most deceptive and abusive lending practices; and hold on-the-ground events in 11 states, among other actions.
"The most dangerous sharks in America aren't found in the sea," NPA said on Monday. "They're the payday loan sharks lurking on neighborhood corners and on the Internet and they offer small dollar loans that take a big bite out of family budgets with interest rates averaging roughly 300 percent."
In addition to those kinds of dizzying interest rates, payday loans also use "deceptive terms, automatic 'rollovers', [and] staggering fees" to drain borrowers of more than $10 million annually.
"These sharks target their attacks. Storefront payday lenders are much more likely to target People of Color and low-income workers who can least afford these loans," NPA writes.
"The most dangerous sharks in America aren't found in the sea. They're the payday loan sharks lurking on neighborhood corners and on the Internet and they offer small dollar loans that take a big bite out of family budgets with interest rates averaging roughly 300 percent."
--National People's Action
Previous studies have found that payday lenders are much more likely to set up shop in predominantly black and Latino communities than white communities.
In its first feature of the week, NPA shares the experience of a woman named Candice, who was forced to use a payday loan at age 23 to make ends meet after her work cut her hours. But soon after taking out one loan, Candice found herself trapped in a cycle of debt, as the sky-high interest rates on one loan forced her to take out another just to pay it back on time.
In one year, Candice was near bankruptcy, had lost her car and apartment, and had missed out on job opportunities.
But Candice is just one in 12 million Americans who fall victim to similar predatory lending schemes every year, according to NPA.
"Loan shark attacks are a financial disaster for millions of hard working families," the NPA states. "Payday borrowers are twice as likely to file for bankruptcy as households with similar incomes who were denied a loan and 92% more likely to become delinquent on their credit cards or lose their bank accounts."
While the NPA campaign is timed to coincide with the annual television event, it also comes in anticipation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) releasing a new rule on small dollar payday loans, which is expected to come out this fall.
To that end, NPA is calling on the CFPB to issue "a strong, broad and effective rule...that will put a stop to the worst of these abuses."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
At long last, shark week has come--that time of year when bloodthirsty predators get a moment in the media spotlight. Only it's not the shark week you're thinking of.
In time with the Discovery Channel's week of programming that portrays intelligent and social animals as the vicious butchers of the sea, the National People's Action (NPA), a grassroots coalition, is launching a campaign to highlight the payday loans that devour millions of Americans in a "devastating cycle of debt" every year.
From July 6-10, under the banners #SharkWeek and #StopTheDebtTrap, NPA will publish stories of "loan shark attack survivors"; circulate a petition calling for an end to the most deceptive and abusive lending practices; and hold on-the-ground events in 11 states, among other actions.
"The most dangerous sharks in America aren't found in the sea," NPA said on Monday. "They're the payday loan sharks lurking on neighborhood corners and on the Internet and they offer small dollar loans that take a big bite out of family budgets with interest rates averaging roughly 300 percent."
In addition to those kinds of dizzying interest rates, payday loans also use "deceptive terms, automatic 'rollovers', [and] staggering fees" to drain borrowers of more than $10 million annually.
"These sharks target their attacks. Storefront payday lenders are much more likely to target People of Color and low-income workers who can least afford these loans," NPA writes.
"The most dangerous sharks in America aren't found in the sea. They're the payday loan sharks lurking on neighborhood corners and on the Internet and they offer small dollar loans that take a big bite out of family budgets with interest rates averaging roughly 300 percent."
--National People's Action
Previous studies have found that payday lenders are much more likely to set up shop in predominantly black and Latino communities than white communities.
In its first feature of the week, NPA shares the experience of a woman named Candice, who was forced to use a payday loan at age 23 to make ends meet after her work cut her hours. But soon after taking out one loan, Candice found herself trapped in a cycle of debt, as the sky-high interest rates on one loan forced her to take out another just to pay it back on time.
In one year, Candice was near bankruptcy, had lost her car and apartment, and had missed out on job opportunities.
But Candice is just one in 12 million Americans who fall victim to similar predatory lending schemes every year, according to NPA.
"Loan shark attacks are a financial disaster for millions of hard working families," the NPA states. "Payday borrowers are twice as likely to file for bankruptcy as households with similar incomes who were denied a loan and 92% more likely to become delinquent on their credit cards or lose their bank accounts."
While the NPA campaign is timed to coincide with the annual television event, it also comes in anticipation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) releasing a new rule on small dollar payday loans, which is expected to come out this fall.
To that end, NPA is calling on the CFPB to issue "a strong, broad and effective rule...that will put a stop to the worst of these abuses."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.