More and more representatives from cash advance businesses are coming out in defense of their industry, arguing that they are helping those in need instead of hurting them.
Ryan H. Harris wrote a letter in the Montgomery Advertiser Monday in response to a previous article from an Alabama Poverty Project representative pushing to limit payday lending practices in Alabama.
Harris, a communications manager for the Cleveland, Tennessee-based Check Into Cash short term loan company, disagreed with claims that the payday loan product was a “broken product” that cannot keep track of how many loans a borrower is taking out and whether or not they have the ability to pay them back.
Saying that Alabama’’s payday advance industry works “under strict state guidelines that protect customers,” he said that state regulations only allow for a loan to be rolled over one time – and added that his business in Tennessee allowed no rollovers.
“It is true that it’s not a perfect world, and consumers sometimes need to turn to short-term credit options like payday loans to make ends meet, he said. “But stripping away a consumer option like payday lending is not the answer, and will only stand to further hurt hard-working Alabamians.”
