Excerpt: “As more businesses close and unemployment lines lengthen, a virtually unregulated sector of the Texas economy continues to rake in huge profits by providing high-cost payday and auto title loan services that often drag desperate families deeper into financial crisis…” Read more on the Dallas Morning News site >>
Dallas Morning News: “High-cost lenders profit from desperate times”
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Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Pawnshop zoning push miffs Fort Worth councilwoman”
Excerpt: “Fort Worth Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks says she is angry that the City Council is considering a zoning-change request by the pawnshop industry that would allow pawnshops to rebuild in the event of a fire or natural disaster…” Read more on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram site >>
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My Fox Houston: “Quick Cash Loans Could Increase Your Debt”
Excerpt: “For many consumers with credit problems, short-term payday loan or car title loans can be tempting. But getting that quick cash often drives the borrower further into debt…” Read more on the My Fox Houston site >>
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Baptist Standard: “Payday lenders profit from cycle of debt”
Excerpt: “The number of payday loans in Texas has exploded. In 2008, payday and auto title loans were available in more than 2,800 locations all around Texas, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s list of registered credit service organizations…” Read more on the Baptist Standard site >>
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News8 Austin: “Risky payday loans could see new regulations soon”
Excerpt: “There are more payday loan offices in Texas than there are McDonald’s, Whataburger’s, Sonic’s and Wendy’s combined, according to Don Baylor, of the Center for Public Policy Priorities…” Read and see more on the News8 Austin site >>
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Cherokeean Herald: “Don’t Let This Scrooge… Err, Scourge… Ruin Your Holiday”
Excerpt: “Texans do everything big, and Christmas is no different. But the economy remains sluggish. State unemployment rates have not shown signs of improvement. Social Security recipients won’t receive a cost of living increase in 2010. So what’s a Christmas-loving yet strapped-for-cash Texan to do? ” Read and see more on the Cherokeean Herald site >>
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Brownsville Herald: “City places six-month moratorium on permitting new moneylenders”
Excerpt: “The City Commission on Tuesday placed a six-month moratorium on permitting new moneylenders — that charge high interest rates and fees — in order to study the feasibility of requiring the lenders to register and to locate within specific areas of the city.” Read more on the Brownsville Herald site >>
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Texas Tribune: “Debtors’ Treadmill: Treasure Map”
Excerpt: “Companies that offer short-term, high-interest loans go where the business is: primarily low- and middle-income neighborhoods….” Read more on the Texas Tribune site >>
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Texas Tribune: “Debtors’ Treadmill, Part Two: Political Payday”
Excerpt: “Killeen retiree Preston White is readying for battle against the payday loan industry in Texas after a lender charged him sky-high fees and threatened to take his truck. “We have committed ourselves to trying to fight this,” White said…” Read more on the Texas Tribune site >>
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Texas Tribune: “Debtors’ Treadmill, Part One: Borrowed Time”
Excerpt: “Preston White’s daughter needed a little cash a couple of months ago to relocate her family when she got back from Iraq. ‘We needed to get them some money really quick,’ he said. He tried to get a loan from his regular bank to help the returning U.S. Army veteran, but was denied. So he picked up a phone book, flipped through the pages and saw an ad for a company that guaranteed fast loans. That’s when his ‘real horror story’ started…” Read more on the Texas Tribune site >>
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WFAA: “Bills seek to crack down on ‘predatory’ lenders”
Excerpt: “Payday and title loan signs have popped up all over North Texas. It is a promise of quick money with interest rates critics call predatory…” Read more on the WFAA site >>
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Dallas Morning News: “Irving explores capping payday loan interest rates”
Excerpt: “Irving officials aren’t waiting for the Texas Legislature to decide whether to cap the controversial interest rates that payday lending outlets charge their customers. Instead, city staffers are researching whether state law would allow the city to introduce its own ceiling…” Read more on the Dallas Morning News site >>
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Texas Observer: “The Perils Of Payday”
Excerpt: “Isamar Lanusse doesn’t want her 14-month-old daughter, Vicky, to grow up worrying whether there will be food in the refrigerator. A 34-year-old single mom, Lanusse works 40-hour weeks driving elderly and disabled folks to their doctors’ appointments in Austin. The job earns her $27,500 a year, barely enough to get from paycheck to paycheck. But she is determined to gain financial stability…” Read more on the Texas Appleseed site (PDF) >>
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Dallas Morning News: “Payday lenders offer instant cash – but it’ll cost you”
Excerpt: “Ruby Golden, a 62-year-old disabled Dallas hospital aide, owes so much money that she’s lost track of the amount. It’s somewhere in the thousands of dollars, she said, a sad result of her serial encounters with payday lenders…” Read more on the Dallas Morning News site >>
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Midland Reporter-Telegram: “Car title loan practices alarm officials”
Excerpt: “A Midland woman’s nightmarish experience with a car title loan company has led District Attorney Teresa Clingman and Sen. Kel Seliger to question state consumer credit regulations that allow the strong arm collection of more than 300 percent of a loan’s original value…” Read more on the Midland Reporter-Telegram site >>
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Baptist Standard: “What does the Bible say about lending practices?”
Excerpt: “The dramatic increase of payday lender storefronts in Texas has left some Christians wondering how to respond. What does Scripture say about high interest rates? Can the church offer solutions?” Read more on the Baptist Standard site >>