There are lenders in every industry that are predatory, and do not have the best interests of their clients at heart. Banks that give mortgages to people who buy houses they cant afford, dealerships that sell cars that are too expensive for the people who buy them, and yes, there are payday lenders who give loans for more money than people should borrow.



There are people and organizations that think that restricting peoples borrowing rights qualifies as an act of good will. Many of these people are upper-middle class suburbanites who think that theyre making the world a better place.





It helps alleviate their guilt for driving past homeless people during their commute to work in their $50K SUV and drinking their $5 Starbucks coffee. It makes them feel as though theyre helping the poor without actually having to spend time with any of them.



Payday loan opponents have never actually needed a payday loan so they dont actually know the details of how they work or that some people can actually benefit from them. They like to throw out terms like loan shark, even though loan sharking is illegal, and payday loans are not. Loan sharks hold onto to things you own as collateral, your car, a stereo system, etc. If you dont pay the loan back on time, they keep your things and you still owe them the money. If you still take too long paying them back, they start hurting you physically.



The following examples are organizations and types of people that offer no actual solution for people in financial trouble to get access to a cash advance, they only focus on banning an option that thousands find helpful.



Arizonans For Responsible Lending: No actual solutions for struggling people.

This special interest group has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars producing anti-payday loan propaganda including several television commercials, one of which is offensive. They have testimonials on the home page of their website from people who claim that payday loans almost ruined their lives. One woman claims that she had to get a second job to pay off her 4 payday loans. Maybe she shouldnt have borrowed more than she could afford to pay back and got the second job to start with.



Total number of alternatives they offer instead of payday loans: 0



ACORN: Laws dont apply to us.

Also known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a special interest group of anti-corporate radicals that claim to have the poors best interests at heart. They like to gather outside payday loan stores and harass people that work there, and people who go there who need money.



I guess since they believe that theyre helping people that they can side-step the law. They have been in the news because ACORN employees have been convicted of voter registration fraud. They sued California to avoid paying their own employees at least minimum wage (Not illegal per se, just a little ironic for a group fighting for the rights of the poor.) Fires their own employees if they try to unionize, the list continues



Local journalists: All buzz, no content.

Its amazing how inaccurate and biased local reporters can be. Whether its Arizona, Ohio or any one of several other states the local reporting is unbalanced and lacking facts. At best, many of these writers submit the uninspiring articles with the same tired loan shark theme. At worst, this news is inaccurate and biased. In many instances these articles read like press releases directly from special interest groups.



Politicians: Well tell you how to manage your money

Theres nothing worse than a hypocrite. Theres no shortage of Senators, Congressmen, Mayors and Councilmen who are in the pockets of special interest groups like ACORN who do little research into what people need, or are interested in developing solutions for the under-privileged. Politicians take away borrowers rights to get access to cash because they want to tell adults how to spend their money. Then they turn around and completely mis-manage and over spend your tax dollars.



Tommy the Loan Shark: Annoying, self-promoting grad students

Its hardly worth mentioning, but its such a typical example of an opponent to payday loans. Theres a blog run by two grad students, one of whom is Jim Nixon. The other is a friend of his who dresses up in a big, blue shark costume. The two of them go around political press conferences in Philadelphia with their bull-horn and pretty much start up a scene then blog about it later.



Again, no reasons why payday loans arent any good, no payday loan alternatives, just a couple of kids trying to get a rise of people then drive home in their parents Volvo.