What Payday Loans Mean To Me

In the words of Robert Sherrill “In February, I received a chance to testify on the new payday lending rule. I believed that my testimony would be irrelevant as I had grown up in public housing, had been in federal prison for a while and was a happy customer of the small-dollar lending industry. With the rule proposed by CFPB on June 2, access to small dollar loans were threatened for millions of Americans like me, and hence, I felt compelled to tell my story so that others know the value of these loans for people in urgent need of credit. I owe my success to Advance Financial and the small-dollar lending industry. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to start and invest in my cleaning business. I started my business about ten years ago in Nashville, Tennessee. Today, I have 20 employees. Starting a company from scratch is never easy. Cash and funds aren’t easily available and most banks don’t make loans lesser than $1000. Access to a line of credit is difficult for small business owners and even more difficult to people like me who have made mistakes in the past. I turned to Advance Financial, a company that offers FlexLoan, an alternative to payday loans, though at the time, it offered payday loans. The loans that I took from Advance Financial saved my business and possibly my life. Though the CFPB says that payday loans are expensive, I believe the most expensive credit is the one you can’t get. The new rule would drastically limit the options of millions of Americans like me. Though I don’t understand the 1300 page rule, I do know that this will mean the closing of many businesses offering payday loans. People like me will have nowhere to go when they require credit. And how about my privacy? The CFPB wants to put up my details in a database for a mere $200 loan. Why should I and people like me be singled out? These payday loan are quick, easy and confidential. It will all be stripped away. In March, I testified before Congress about my experience. The CFPB is supposed to take a market based approach being a ‘data driven agency’. For me, a ‘market based approach’ is to talk to my customers about what they want. Perhaps the CFPB should talk to more people like me. The people who visit such stores are struggling to make ends meet. The government will just make it harder. Any member of the Congress should understand the impact this new rule will have. You might take away their only option to receive regulated credit. Without this option, such people would resort to unregulated lenders or might be forced back onto the streets. Robert Sherrill is the CEO of Imperial Cleaning Systems, Inc., Nashville. Original source: The Hill