Toolkit on payday lending
The Center for Responsible Lending is excited to share Faith and Payday Lending: Resources for learning and action - a toolkit that gathers resources and tips for those advocating for payday reform, serving households hurt by predatory lending, and seeking to spark conversation in their congregations about high-cost lending. A tremendous thank you to PICO National Network with whom we collaborated on this project.
The Faith-Based Toolkit includes
- · resources for educating, and mobilizing faith based communities
- · practical advice for those dealing with debt
Share your payday or car title loan stories with the CFPB
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has said that it has received fewer complaints about payday and car title loans in the last several months. Your stories will inform the CFPB's work on payday and encourage a strong rule. You can both Tell Your Story and Submit a Complaint.
Send a social media message on payday
Another way we have been working to call for payday reform is through sending public messages to the CFPB’s director, Richard Cordray. Here’s a simple way to do it:
1. Take a selfie with a #StopTheDebtTrap sign
2. Share it on social media with one of these messages or write your own:
I support a strong #payday rule from the @CFPB. We need to #StopTheDebtTrap
#StopTheDebtTrap with a strong @CFPB rule on payday lenders so that we can #LendJustly
3. Email your selfie and message to nate.frierson@responsiblelending.org, so that it can be shared with all of our messages to Director Cordray!
Pope Francis: usury is an affront to human dignity
With Pope Francis recently completing his visit to the United States and conveying compassion for the poor (perhaps most powerfully through his actions) - it's worth remembering Francis' comments on usury:
“When a family has nothing to eat, because it has to make payments to usurers, this is not Christian, it is not human! This dramatic scourge in our society harms the inviolable dignity of the human person.”
Read more about Catholics in the United States working on payday reform here:
http://togoforth.org/2015/08/07/payday-lending-hurts-families/
We will continue with monthly calls to keep everyone updated on the status of the campaign. The next call will be Tuesday, October 20 at 3PM EST and will include a presentation from Exodus Lending. Following that, the calls will be on November 17 and December 15. Be on the lookout for an email with details about the call-in and registration information.
As always, feel free to call or email me with any questions
Thanks again for all of your help!
Nate Frierson
Center for Responsible Lending - Faith Affairs
