Spotlight on the States: The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Friday, January 11, 2008

Latest Press Release: Evangelicals to Networks: Stop Pigeonholing Us, Fix Exit Polls

One of the most exciting developments in the faith community is the ever-broadening range of issues engaged by religious coalitions.

A cutting-edge example is the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), which brought state leaders and faith communities together for its "Day for All People" Legislative Advocacy Event on January 15. The all-day event included seminars about the advocacy process, legislator visits, issue education, and a rally addressed by Gov. Time Kaine. The Center is mobilizing groups, through its Faithful Pledge Campaign, to fight predatory lending by regulating payday lenders, whose high-interest loans suck already struggling people into an inescapable spiral of debt.

VICPP’s leadership on this issue is timely and prophetic. With a weak labor market nationally, rising unemployment rates, and a drop in real wages for the past 5 years in Virginia, low-income families and singles are feeling a financial crunch. They are particularly susceptible to offers of a quick-fix solution. Payday lenders offer quick cash, but at interest rates reaching up to 390% APR interest. Rev. Doug Smith, the Director of VICPP, says the “high interest debt that payday lenders peddle” is like throwing a “poor family in a pit with a spoon and telling them to start digging until they get out.”

Rev. Smith is quick to point out that this cap will not put anyone out of business as some critics suggest. It will, however, help protect the most vulnerable populations in the common-wealth from unscrupulous business practices.

Click here to sign the petition for a cap on pay-day loans or register for a “Day for All People”.