Fighting Back Against Predatory Lenders

CWA Human Rights activists are joining with our Democracy Initiative partners to fight back against the predatory practices of the big banks, particularly payday lending schemes.

Payday lending is destructive and vicious, and virtually unregulated in too many states. Big banks and other financial institutions offer short term loans to people facing a devastating financial condition, at annual interest rates of 100 percent, or more.

It becomes impossible for borrowers to pay off their loans, and they incur even more debt, setting up an inescapable cycle of poverty. Low-paid workers who haven't had a wage increase in years are targeted by these lenders.

In her report for the CWA National Women's Committee, member Vicky Hurley explores the issue of payday lending and its impact on families and communities. Many of these lenders are companies owned by the big Wall Street banks – the same banks that caused the economy to come crashing down on working families in 2008 and were rewarded with taxpayer bailouts.

Read the report here.

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