Page 2 The Skanner May 18, 2016
Challenging People to Shape
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Opinion
Google Bans Payday and Other Predatory Loan Ads
F
or more than a decade,
broad-based coalitions at
both the state and federal
levels have united con-
sumer advocates, labor, cler-
gy, civil rights champions and
others in calling for an end to
predatory lending. Although
16 states and the District of
Columbia effectively ban pay-
day lending, the majority of
the nation is still subject to
triple-digit interest rates ap-
plied to debt trap lending.
Even in states that have in-
terest rate caps on payday
loans, the small-dollar loan
industry has tried a series
of legislative maneuvers, or
even attempts at voter up-
dates through ballot initia-
tives to overturn laws. In oth-
er cases, lenders have moved
to longer-term versions of the
typical two-week payday loan
as yet another financial vul-
ture preying upon working
class citizens.
This week a global corpo-
rate giant took decisive action
against payday lenders and
others that charge triple-digit
interest rates.
Google, the Internet’s lead-
ing search engine, announced
that effective July 1 it will ban
ads for payday loans and oth-
er loan products that require
full repayment within 60
days.
“This change is designed
Charlene
Crowell
NNPA
Columnist
to protect our users from de-
ceptive or harmful financial
products,” noted Google in its
corporate blog.
David Graff, Google’s Direc-
tor of Global Product Policy
went a step further adding,
“We have an extensive set of
policies to keep bad ads out of
“
“Banning predatory payday
loan ads shows that Google is
willing to put people before
profits,” said Wade Hender-
son, President and CEO of
The Leadership Conference
on Civil and Human Rights.
“This new policy addresses
many of the long-standing
concerns shared by the entire
civil rights community about
predatory payday lending…
This ban puts payday loans
in their rightful place along-
side explosives and tobacco
as dangerous products that
deserve the highest level of
scrutiny from regulators and
Banning predatory payday loan
ads shows that Google is willing to
put people before profits
our systems and we take these
policies very seriously. In
particular, financial services
is an areas we look at very
closely because we want to
protect users from deceptive
or harmful products.”
What Google termed a ‘poli-
cy change’ triggered a jubilant
refrain from academicians,
civil rights and consumer ad-
vocates.
From their collective views,
the decision was a pivotal
breakthrough in the fight for
financial justice for all.
businesses alike.”
“Unscrupulous
payday
lenders prey on the most vul-
nerable, including millions
in communities of color in
neighborhoods across Amer-
ica,” noted Janet Murguia,
President and CEO of the
National Council of La Raza.
“This is a terrific example of
how civil rights organiza-
tions and tech companies can
come together to help protect
the rights of all Americans
online.”
“The Internet should not be
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SPECIAL EDITION
PUBLISHES
JUNE 1, 2016
#SkNews
a place that profits from your
weaknesses,” said Alvaro Be-
doya, Executive Director of
the Center on Privacy & Tech-
nology at Georgetown Law.
Each year, over $3.4 billion
in excessive fees are drained
from the pockets of payday
borrowers, according to the
Center for Responsible Lend-
ing (CRL).
Over 75 percent of these fees
are generated by borrowers
trapped in 10 or more loans a
year. Other CRL research find-
ings show that:
• Nearly one in four payday
borrowers rely on retire-
ment or public assistance as
a means of income;
• The national average APR
for payday loans is 364 per-
cent, and often rates are
much higher; and
• Payday borrowers are more
likely to become delinquent
on other bills, delay medical
care, and, in the worst sce-
narios, file for bankruptcy.
“I think this action is as un-
precedented as it is signifi-
cant,” said Keith Corbett, a CRL
Executive Vice President. “By
removing ads that lure finan-
cially-strapped
consumers
into unaffordable, long-term
and costly debt traps, Google
is displaying what corporate
citizenship looks like. CRL’s
hope is that others will soon
follow suit.”
Blackonomics: The Black Community is Bleeding to Death
T
here is a crisis of mon-
umental proportion in
our so-called “Black com-
munities.” A crisis that if
not checked will prove to be
our demise. We are bleeding
so badly that we are in a coma-
tose state and on life support
right now. But we still have a
strong heartbeat, so we can
be revived by those who have
the financial and intellectual
talents and the willingness
to make the requisite indi-
vidual sacrifices necessary to
restore us to a more healthy
state.
A cadre of individuals, not
featured in the dominant me-
dia, is devoted to leading the
charge for economic empow-
erment among Black people.
These brothers and sisters
are not afraid. They are not
ashamed of being Black. They
are not hiding behind organi-
zations and in corporations;
they are strong and unwav-
ering in their message of eco-
nomic empowerment.
Yes, we are bleeding pro-
fusely, brothers and sisters,
and we must stop the bleed-
ing, not with a Band-Aid but
with stitches.
Our life-blood — our dol-
lars — are flowing out of our
neighborhoods. The profes-
sionals call this phenomenon
“float” or “expenditure leak-
age,” which translates into
what the experts at the Brook-
James
Clingman
NNPA
Columnist
ings Institution called a “mar-
ket opportunity to provide
competitively priced goods
and services to inner-city
consumers.” A 1999 report
issued by the Center on Ur-
“
der-served
neighborhoods
and was positive in its ap-
proach to suggesting ways to
effect much needed change.
Nevertheless, my take on
this issue conjured up visions
of massive hemorrhaging,
and it very strongly suggest-
ed that we need to stop the
bleeding. The report com-
pared one of Chicago’s South-
side neighborhoods to the
affluent northern neighbor-
hood of Kenilworth. It stated,
“…urban neighborhoods like
Our life-blood—our dollars are
flowing out of our neighborhoods
ban and Metropolitan Policy,
written by Robert Weiss-
bourd and Christopher Berry,
cited some glaring and, quite
frankly, embarrassingly stark
statistics that portray Black
people as nothing more than
“economic opportunities” for
others.
Please note the report was
not casting aspersions on
Black folks, rather it was sim-
ply pointing out some facts
about inner-city neighbor-
hoods and their consumers
and suggesting ways that
businesses and government
entities could better serve the
residents as well as their own
interests.
It
stressed
investment
opportunities within un-
South Shore in Chicago have
more buying power than the
wealthiest of suburbs. South
Shore’s median family in-
come was $22,000 back then;
Kenilworth’s was $124,000.
But South Shore had $69,000
of retail spending ‘power
per acre,’ nearly twice that of
Kenilworth’s $38,000.” That
means inner city residents,
despite their tremendous re-
sources, are virtually bleed-
ing to death. Literally mil-
lions of dollars are leaving
our neighborhoods, which in
turn, also negatively affects
our employment opportuni-
ties. It continued, “For busi-
ness, this translates into lost
sales, or what marketers call
‘float dollars.’ For inner city
residents, these are ‘float jobs,’
as crucial dollars that could
employ local residents and
fuel the neighborhood econo-
my are spent elsewhere.”
The only thing that has
changed during the last six-
teen years is our collective
annual income, which is
much higher. The problem is
that we don’t learn from in-
formation like this and use it
to improve our situation.
We are bleeding, brothers
and sisters, and our blood is
Type O, the “universal donor”
— everybody benefits from it.
We have EMTs ready, willing,
and able to apply the tourni-
quets and even to stitch up
our wounds. It’s up to us, how-
ever, to access their expertise,
to follow their instructions,
and to take the prescriptions
they write for us.
If we are going to stop the
bleeding, if we are going to
put an end, once and for all,
to the preventable loss of life
blood — our dollars — from
our neighborhoods, we must
make the changes being rec-
ommended by our true eco-
nomic leaders.
We must consider our
“spending power per acre” as
cited in the Brookings Report,
just as others are considering
it and gaining a stronger eco-
nomic foothold in the billions
Black people earn and spend
each year.