Home  About  Chapters  Policy  Publications  Join  Jobs  Donate  Blog  The University of Michigan's first dream.DETROIT installment, Art and Urban Development in Detroit. dream.DETROIT is a year-long community development project. News from the National Office Post-Election Center TI Launched Roosevelt LiveBlogs the Presidential Debate On Campus Midwest Regional Fall Policy Workshop Blum speaks at Vermont Campus Compact conference Coverage of the Johns Hopkins Chapter Launch > More "The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us." — Teddy Roosevelt    End Usury at Payday Loan Centers > Roosevelt Home > Roosevelt Challenges > End Usury at Payday Loan Centers By Kyle J Haverback Categories: Economic policy, Poverty and social justice, Responsible business practices The Challenge: recognize that payday loan businesses contribute to poverty through their lending practices. How the proposed Challenge meets the challenge criteria: Applicable throughout the geographic United States Approachable at local, state, and national levels of government Approachable from a variety of academic disciplines and specialties 1. There are several national, publicly traded payday lending corporations (NYSE:AEA,CSH NASD:DLLR,AACE). Also, their industry associations are located in DC so the legislative consequences are national. 2. Company focus on poor neighborhoods makes this a local issue but legislation tends to be national and federal. 3. I see this as relevant to sociology, political science, economics and business administration. Vision or background behind the proposed Challenge: Payday lenders target the poor and operate almost exclusively in their neighborhoods. These businesses deal in charging interest on loans to people who are already in debt. The debtors give the lenders access to their bank accounts (as a condition of the loan) and can become wrapped up in overdraft fees and rollover interest in addition repaying the principle loan. A great primer on payday lenders can be found at (of course) Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payday_loans Also, this report focuses on Los Angeles but there's great info in it: http://www.calreinvest.org/system/assets/21.pdf Please note the map on page 7 as evidence of lenders focusing on poor communities. Why Roosevelt should take on this Challenge over others: Ending usury at payday loan centers meets the three challenge criteria above and is also in line with the Roosevelt's larger mission of progressivism. Strategically, I see a lot of partnership chances with groups like SAJE, ACORN, CalReinvest and other progressive think tanks like the Center for American Progress. This network would make our ability to evoke change more likely should we expend the energy. At the very least, partnering couldn't hurt the organization. I see this as a distinct component of a larger strategy. I believe it could fit easily into this challenge's mission of helping low-wage workers: http://rooseveltinstitution.org/challenges/7_improving_the_lot_of_low   The Roosevelt Institution is a nonpartisan, nonprofit national think tank devoted to bringing students' policy ideas to the policy process. The opinions expressed on this site are exclusively those of its members. DC Headquarters: Roosevelt Institution / 2100 M St NW Suite 610 / Washington, DC 20037 || (202) 833-1359