A group of Dallas-Fort Worth pastors are initiating a battle against car title and payday loan stores popping up in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The pastors are saying that the payday lenders are failing to offer anything of value to their neighborhoods and that they are little more than predators, profiting on the desperation of the poor. Reverend Frederick Haynes, who is part of the group battling payday lenders put it well when he said, “They are economic predators, and they are literally crippling our community.”
Payday lenders are economic predators, who cripple communities and often help to keep the poor mired in poverty and desperation. If you’ve ever taken out a payday loan then you know that it is a vicious cycle of debt that is almost impossible to break free from. Payday lenders in Texas and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in particular are not helping our communities become stronger. And they are not, as they would like to claim, helping poor people get access to easy cash when they need it. What payday lenders do is create an environment where people who are already on edge financially are sent over the brink because they are struggling to pay these high interest, worthless loans. We call them worthless because while they may bring in high profits for the payday lender they bring nothing of real value to the borrower who ends up paying several times over what they originally borrowed. Reform really needs to start with our legislators who have failed to get serious about payday loans. The root of the problems is that Texas legislators are treating payday lenders like they are legitimate businesses in our communities when they are only parasites who feed upon the most vulnerable amongst us.