Payday Loan Businesses Targetted
October 21, 2005

The organizer of a national campaign against the "payday loan" shops is speaking in Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon. The Hamilton Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits has invited Judy Duncan to address their regular 1 pm meeting at First Pilgrim United Church (200 Main Street East).

Duncan heads ACORN Canada, a Vancouver-based group that released a damning report on the payday loan sector a year ago and has been picketing some of the businesses that offer short-term very high interest loans.

The group has also launched legal action in British Columbia and says it will also do so soon in Ontario.

ACORN's report says "payday lenders typically charge between 300% - 900% and, not infrequently, more than 1,000%". It says the explosive growth of the sector is partly the result of banks and other financial insitutions closing hundreds of their neighbourhood branches.

There are now more than two dozen outlets listed in the Hamilton yellow pages. Nearly a third are part of the Money Mart chain that dominates the sector across the country. Most others use the word "cash" in their name to emphasize the availability of instant money to those willing to pay for it.

The ACORN report is available at
http://www.acorn.org/fileadmin/International/Canada/
Reports/Payday_Lending_Report.pdf.

The Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits can be contacted at weyr@hwcn.org. Their Wednesday meeting is open to the public.