More than 15 members and supporters of Socialist Alternative held signs and handed out flyers at an intersection near the Tacoma Mall, drawing awareness to the outrageous practices of payday loan stores and prompting the public to attend an upcoming city council meeting at which the topic will be addressed. Drivers overwhelmingly showed support by honking their horns and giving thumbs up.

Making promises of affordable, quick credit, payday lenders often prey on the most vulnerable of the working class, the poor, while thriving on their borrowers’ inability to repay the loan on time, thus creating a cycle of recurrent fees and debt. Some borrowers actually end up acquiring multiple loans in order to financially stay afloat.

Not surprisingly, these payday lenders donated over $200,000 to state politicians in 2006, amounting to nothing more than a bribe to protect their interests. These politicians allow payday loan profiteers an exemption from Washington State usury law, which caps interest rates at an already astounding 36%. No wonder there has been an explosion of payday loan stores in poorer neighborhoods! With high interest rates and exorbitant fees, balances can accrue to more than ten times this amount (360%) over a one-year period.

At the city council meeting on June 5, our campaign plans to mobilize people opposed to the way payday loan lenders operate, and demand the city rescind these special privileges and provide living-wage jobs and financial assistance alternatives to these lenders. One of our signs, “We Need Real Paydays, Not Payday Loans,” demonstrated our alternative.

Workers cannot expect that the two parties of big business that legalized unethical payday lending some ten years ago in Washington State will end these high-interest loan rip-offs and provide living-wage jobs and the healthcare that we need. This can only be achieved by the mobilization and struggle of working-class people.