Wallet Watch

Recently seen on the website of the Predatory Lending Association:

The Predatory Lending Association (PLA) is dedicated to extracting maximum profit from the working poor by increasing payday loan fees and debt traps. The working poor are an exciting, fast growing demographic that includes: military personnel, minorities, and most of the middle class.

…

It’s easy to find the working poor, but our studies reveal that a difference in location of even a few city blocks can impact profits by as much as 45%.

Members of the PLA have access to the full version of the Poor Finder™ that includes:

• Detailed reports of sales records from pawn shops, liquor and gun stores, and the lottery.
• Maps to find the highest concentrations of the working poor with the fewest existing payday loan stores.
• Overlay Military Loan Finder and Poor Finder™ maps to find the hottest combination of military personnel and the working poor.

Their site is a spoof of course. But not too far fetched from reality.

Equally depressing/amusing: maps showing how payday lenders locate right outside military bases. This phenomenon led Congress to cap interest rates on payday loans for military families, as huge outstanding debt among military families was affecting the readiness of our troops to go overseas.

Hopefully now that Congress sees that interest rate caps are appropriate and beneficial for military families, the rest of American families might benefit for improved standards on payday loans and other types of small loans.