Pennsylvanians Oppose Predatory Payday Lending

Groups representing millions of Pennsylvanians are speaking out to oppose predatory payday lending and keep Pennsylvania's strong laws in place. Click here to join our efforts to keep predatory payday lending out of the state.

  • AARP Pennsylvania
  • ACTION Housing Inc 
  • Action United
  • Advantage Credit Counseling Service Inc
  • AFSCME Local 2459
  • Bayfront NATO, Inc.
  • Benedictines for Peace
  • Benedictine Sisters of Erie
  • Berks Community Action Program
  • Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation
  • Booker T. Washington Center (Erie)
  • Bucks County Housing Group 
  • Bucks County Women's Advocacy Coalition
  • CLARIFI (formerly Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley)
  • Chester Community Improvement Project
  • Christian Churches United
  • Community Action Association of Pennsylvania
  • Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley
  • Community Housing Services
  • Community Justice Project
  • Community Legal Services, Inc
  • Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA)
  • Erie Together 
  • Esperanza
  • Family and Community Service of Delaware County
  • Family Service of Chester County
  • Family Services of NW PA
  • Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia
  • Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh
  • Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC) 
  • Habitat for Humanity Pennsylvania
  • Hill District Consensus Group
  • Homeownership Counseling Association of the Delaware Valley
  • Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
  • Housing Opportunities of Beaver County
  • John F. Kennedy Center (Erie)
  • Jubilee Pax Christi (Harrisburg)
  • Just Harvest
  • Keystone Opportunity Center
  • Keystone Research Center
  • Life Works Erie
  • Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania
  • Metro Erie Meals on Wheels
  • Military Officers Association of America, PA Council of Chapters
  • Montgomery County Community Action Development Commission 
  • Mon Valley Unemployed Committee
  • Multicultural Community Resource Center, Erie
  • National Council of Jewish Women - Pennsylvania
  • Navy Marine Corps Relief Society
  • Northern Tier Community Action Corporation
  • Open Hearth, Inc.
  • Pathways PA
  • Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans
  • Pennsylvania Chapter of NACA (National Assoc of Consumer Advocates)
  • Pennsylvania Council of Churches
  • Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN)
  • Pennsylvania NAACP 
  • Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PENNPIRG) 
  • Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA)
  • Pennsylvania Utility Law Project
  • Pennsylvania War Veterans Council, Inc.
  • Philadelphia Debt Clinic and Consumer Law Center
  • Philadelphia Unemployment Project (PUP) 
  • Philadelphia VIP (Volunteers for the Indigent Program)
  • Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG)
  • POWER (Philadelphia)
  • Pro-ACT
  • Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) 
  • Regional Housing Legal Services (RHLS)
  • SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania
  • Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network (Erie)
  • Society of St. Vincent De Paul - Council of Pittsburgh
  • Society of St. Vincent De Paul - Philadelphia Archdiocesan Central Council
  • Southwestern PA CLUW (Coalition of Labor Union Women Pittsburgh)
  • St. Martin Center, Inc 
  • St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker House (Harrisburg)
  • 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
  • Tabor Community Services
  • Transport Workers Union Local 234
  • The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO
  • The Reinvestment Fund
  • The Sight Center of Northwest Pennsylvania
  • The Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest PA
  • Unitarian Universalist PA Legislative Advocacy Network
  • United Methodist Advocacy in Pennsylvania
  • United Way of Chester County
  • United Way of Erie County
  • United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
  • United Way of Westmoreland County
  • United Way of York County, PA
  • Union City Family Support Center
  • Urban Affairs Coalition
  • Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania
  • Westmoreland Community Action

 





 

Payday Loans: 
Debt Trap by Design

Payday loans are an abusive form of lending that traps cash-strapped borrowers into a long-term cycle of debt.  

The typical $300 payday loan carries a 300% APR (annual percentage rate), is secured by the lender's access to the borrower's bank account, and must be paid back in full within a short two-weeks.

These loan terms are structured to create a debt trap. In states where such high fees are legal, the average borrower is trapped in debt for more than half the year, leading to financial harms like bankruptcy and delinquency on other bills. According to a report on payday lending conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense, "this debt trap is the rule, not the exception."

Thankfully, Pennsylvania has one of the strongest laws in the country to protect borrowers against predatory payday loans, even when made online.  

But now, out-of-state payday lenders are working to weaken our law so they can flood Pennsylvania with 1,000 storefronts peddling loans that were so harmful to our nation's soldiers that President George Bush signed a law to prohibit them from being made to military families.


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Resources and 
Updates

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In The News

Updates

A new study released by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau confirms decades of other research demonstrating that payday loans put borrowers at risk. Thankfully, Pennsylvania's laws effectively keep these predatory two-week 300% APR payday loans out of its borders. We need to keep those strong protections in place.

Continue reading this update at our blog.