Ohio's Payday Lenders Target Seniors
Now that we're only two weeks away from the November 4th election, it's important that Ohio voters are reminded that payday lenders target the poor and the elderly. The Wall Street Journal ran a great piece in February entitled "Social Insecurity: High-interest lenders tap elderly, disabled."
The first two paragraphs of the article are reminiscent of reports of payday lenders targeting elderly because they know that there is a social security check arriving every month:
"One recent morning, dozens of elderly and disabled people, some propped on walkers and canes, gathered at Small Loans Inc. Many had borrowed money from Small Loans and turned over their Social Security benefits to pay back the high-interest lender. Now they were waiting for their "allowance" -- their monthly check, minus Small Loans' cut."
"The crowd represents the newest twist for a fast-growing industry -- lenders that make high-interest loans, often called "payday" loans that are secured by upcoming paychecks. Such lenders are increasingly targeting recipients of Social Security and other government benefits, including disability and veteran's benefits. "These people always get paid, rain or shine," says William Harrod, a former manager of payday loan stores in suburban Virginia and Washington, D.C. Government beneficiaries "will always have money, every 30 days."
Payday lenders appear to like lending to seniors because they are reliable. They are on fixed incomes can't come up with additional cash to pay off loans.
You can read the rest of the extensive Wall Street Journal piece.
According to the Ohio Department of Development's Office of Strategic Research, there are nearly 2 million individuals aged 60 and above in our state. There are an additional 2.1 million individuals between the ages of 45 and 60. As Ohio's population is aging, payday lenders are likely salivating about tapping into a market of 4 million potential customers with social security checks coming in.
See Ohio's 2007 annual population estimates here:
http://www.odod.state.oh.us/cms/uploadedfiles/Research/p101000001.xls
Don't let payday lenders target Ohio's seniors! Vote yes on issue 5!
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