Feds aim to protect low-income users of ‘payday’ loans, By Josh Boak (AP), March 29, 2015, Detroit News: “Each month, more than 200,000 needy U.S. households take out what’s advertised as a brief loan. Many have run out of money between paychecks. So they obtain a ‘payday’ loan to tide them over. Problem is, such loans can often bury them in fees and debts. Their bank accounts can be closed, their cars repossessed. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules Thursday to protect Americans from stumbling into what it calls a ‘debt trap.’ At the heart of the plan is a requirement that payday lenders verify borrowers’ incomes before approving a loan. The government is seeking to set standards for a multibillion-dollar industry that has historically been regulated only at the state level…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty