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For Immediate Release
July, 09 2015, 01:30pm EDT
Contact:
Jacob Swenson-Lengyel, (312) 316-3973, Jacob@npa-us.org
During #SharkWeek Campaign To Stop Payday Loan Shark Attacks, New Poll Shows Americans See Payday Lenders as Predators
During the Discovery Channel's Shark Week, as National People's Action and allies hold actions around the country to put a stop to payday loan shark practices, new polling shows Americans of all political leanings have negative impressions of payday lenders. The poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and Center for Responsible Lending, shows that nearly 2 in 3 (65%) voters have a negative view of payday lenders. Voters view payday lenders as predators rather than resources by a margin of more than 3:1.
WASHINGTON
During the Discovery Channel's Shark Week, as National People's Action and allies hold actions around the country to put a stop to payday loan shark practices, new polling shows Americans of all political leanings have negative impressions of payday lenders. The poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and Center for Responsible Lending, shows that nearly 2 in 3 (65%) voters have a negative view of payday lenders. Voters view payday lenders as predators rather than resources by a margin of more than 3:1.
Importantly, as the CFPB considers new rules regulating the small dollar lending industry, a full 88% of voters say that payday lenders should verify a customer's ability to repay. Eighty six percent say that payday lenders should ensure that loans are affordable in light of a customer's income and expenses.
"This poll confirms that Americans recognize that most payday lenders are modern day loan sharks," said Liz Ryan Murray, Policy Director at National People's Action. "Everyday people across the country are calling on the CFPB to stop payday loan shark practices. A large majority of Americans agree that the industry must be forced to abandon predatory practices."
Activists from Idaho to Kansas have already held public actions in front of payday loan stores and the offices of legislators paid off to protect them this week. Activists are calling on the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue a strong and broad rules to crack down on payday, car title, installment and online loan sharks. They point out that while ocean-dwelling sharks attacked 52 people in the U.S. last year, predatory payday loan sharks trap 12 million Americans annually in a what too often becomes a devastating cycle of debt. These predatory lenders lurk online and in neighborhoods across the country leaving struggling families drowning in debt because of deceptive terms, rampant repeat borrowing, staggering fees and rates averaging over 300 percent annual percentage rate (APR). More actions are scheduled to take place today and tomorrow in states including Illinois, Iowa, Maine, and Michigan.
In addition to on the ground actions across the country, National People's Action, Americans for Financial Reform, Rootstrikers, and USAction have launched an online petition calling on the CFPB to write a strong rule on small dollar lending. National People's Action is also releasing a series of memes highlighting the different species of small dollar loan sharks. Watch #Sharkweek and #StopTheDebtTrap to follow the campaign on social media.
People's Action builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections.
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Critics Warn Trump EPA Pick Zeldin 'Will Make Our Air and Water Dirtier' to Enrich Polluters
The choice, said one climate leader, "lays bare Donald Trump's intentions to, once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs, and our future out to corporate polluters."
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As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet continued to take shape on Tuesday, climate and environmental campaigners expressed deep concerns about his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency: Lee Zeldin.
Like the EPA administrators from Trump's first term—former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler and "fossil fuel puppet" Scott Pruitt—Zeldin is expected to pursue the Republican's plan to "drill, baby, drill," despite the devastating consequences for the global climate.
In a statement announcing Zeldin as his pick, Trump unironically pledged the former New York congressman would usher in a new era of deregulation but ensure the United States has "the cleanest air and water on the planet." Zeldin similarly promised to achieve "U.S. energy dominance" while also "protecting access to clean air and water." Green groups responded with forceful criticism.
"We need a steady, experienced hand at EPA to marshal federal resources to fight climate change and utilize the full power of the law to protect communities from toxic pollution," Earthjustice president Abbie Dillen said Tuesday. "Lee Zeldin is not that person."
"His loyalty to Donald Trump indicates he will gladly take a sledgehammer to EPA's most recent lifesaving regulations, putting politics over science and endangering our communities," she warned. "It is clear President-elect Trump is prioritizing loyalty above actual qualifications to address our current and future environmental concerns."
Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous declared that choosing a candidate "who opposes efforts to safeguard our clean air and water lays bare Donald Trump's intentions to, once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs, and our future out to corporate polluters. Our lives, our livelihoods, and our collective future cannot afford Lee Zeldin—or anyone who seeks to carry out a mission antithetical to the EPA's mission."
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"We have made too much progress to allow Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin to take us back," Jealous added. "We will not give up the clean energy manufacturing jobs rebuilding communities. We will not accept more dangerous air and water. And we will not allow Trump, Zeldin, and corporate polluters to steal our future."
While campaigning against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris—who was widely supported by green groups—Trump told Big Oil executives that he would repeal the Biden-Harris administration's climate policies if they poured $1 billion into electing him.
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"During Donald Trump's first term in office, he slashed over 125 environmental protections and let polluters off the hook for putting harmful chemicals into our air and water," Lodes pointed out. "Trump's second term agenda will make our air and water dirtier just to make billionaires and big corporations richer—and Americans will pay the price."
After serving in the New York State Senate, Zeldin represented the 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023, during which he was one of Trump's allies—or as Fossil Free Media's Jamie Henn put it, "ass-kissing sycophants."
Zeldin unsuccessfully ran for New York governor in 2022, during which he campaigned on reversing the state's ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. He has a 14% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters.
E&E Newsspoke with multiple sources who believe Zeldin will be able to implement the incoming administration's playbook. Frank Maisano, a senior principal at lobbying firm Bracewell, described him as a fixture in "Trump World" who is "totally with the president's agenda."
"The EPA administrator last time... you had somebody who wasn't politically savvy and was an attorney general who just ramrodded his policy through and didn't have any real political acumen in the space," he said, referring to Pruitt.
"The agenda, I believe, needs to be radical, and there will be a lot of opposition from the mainstream media, environmental groups, the Democrats in Congress," Maisano added. "The job of deregulation is going to need someone who can also be a good defender and explainer of what they're trying to do and what it will accomplish, and why it's important and why it's not wrecking the environment."
Meanwhile, climate organizations and Democratic critics emphasize that wrecking the environment is Trump's plan and they are determined to fight against it.
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