Stop the Big Bank Payday Predators

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/164417/stop-big-bank-payday-predators

While Occupy Wall Street has brought needed attention to inequality and downward social mobility—long ignored by the mainstream media and the political establishment—there are also groups that have been in the trenches for years, struggling day in and day out, doing the tough organizing that is needed if OWS’s vision is to be achieved.

One such group is National People’s Action (NPA), a network of community organizations in cities, towns and rural communities across the country working to advance a national economic and racial justice agenda. NPA—along with unions and community and faith-based groups, and coalitions like The New Bottom Line—has long played a leading role in the fight to hold banks accountable, stop foreclosures, promote housing rights and protect immigrant and workers’ rights, among other vital campaigns.

Now NPA and its allies are shining a light on the connection between the Big Banks and the predatory payday loan companies, and running a sustained campaign to get the banks to withdraw their financing of those companies. Earlier this year, NPA and the Public Accountability Initiative released a report entitled The Predators’ Creditors that details how the Big Banks finance these payday loan sharks whose shops are nearly two and one-half times more likely to locate in African-American and Latino communities, even when other factors like income are considered.

Turns out banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and US Bank borrow money from the Fed at less than 1 percent interest, then fund payday lenders at 3 percent, who in turn lend the money to desperate borrowers at 400 percent interest or more!