October 21, 2009 11:30 PM UTC

Payday Lending Group Living the Good Life at The Broadmoor

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• by: TheBell

(400% interest from poor people buys a lot of Broadmoor–see you next session, payday lending spammers! – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Nobody likes getting their nose rubbed in something foul, but that’s how we feel about the latest from the payday lending industry.

Payday executives and lobbyists from across the country are meeting this week in Colorado Springs. At The Broadmoor, no less.

The foul part? Each year, payday lending stores, most associated with large, national corporations, suck more than $80 million in excessive fees from predominantly low-income communities in Colorado. Now, some of that money is being spent on pillow mints and spa treatments at one of Colorado’s top resort hotels. That’s not our idea of giving back to the community.

At the legislature in recent years, payday lenders have portrayed themselves as small, Mom ‘n’ Pop outfits. Somehow we doubt that many such businesses are ponying up the dough to stay several days at the Broadmoor. The conference, which starts Thursday, is the annual meeting of one of payday lending’s trade groups, the Financial Service Centers of America Inc. (FiSCA).  

FiSCA’s board is heavy with leaders from MoneyTree, Check Cashing USA, ACE Cash Express and other large corporations.  To be fair, FiSCA represents more than just the payday lenders, and some participants representing large institutions such as Western Union and Capital One don’t engage in payday lending. But if you sift through the golf tournaments and other social events on the meeting agenda you’ll find an entire track devoted to payday lending.

One noteworthy fact about the conference is Friday’s featured speaker. FiSCA recruited Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.  Mr. Morial has an impressive resume, and we hope he will use the opportunity to chastise the payday lenders about preying on low-income and minority communities.

But that’s unlikely since the payday lending industry has adopted a strategy of trying to buy its way into minority communities where they have a record of exploitation. Not long ago, the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver announced that Willie Green, former Denver Broncos receiver and current payday lending shill, had presented the league with a $10,000 check from Advance America.

Back to the Broadmoor for a moment. At the legislature two years ago, payday lenders worked overtime to defeat proposals to limit interest rates to 36 or 45 percent. They said they couldn’t stay in business without fees equal to as much as 520 percent interest.

It occurs to us that if they settled for a more reasonable fee structure, they might have to opt for the Holiday Inn down by the interstate for their next confab. But it sure would be a lot better for hard-working Coloradans who currently get caught in payday lending’s cycle of debt.