D. Lynn DeVault, the board chair of the Community Financial Services Association of America, has fired back at claims made by the FDIC that she feels are misleading about the financial knowledge of those who use payday loans.
An editorial written by DeVault, which was published Thursday in the Hattiesburg American, was a response to an Associated Press story that ran in the American last week discussing an FDIC poll that said 16.4 percent of Mississippi’’s population was "underbanked."
She argued that part of the definition used by the FDIC for defining an "underbanked" household, which included being forced to use payday loans instead of borrowing from a bank, was not accurate. Instead, she claimed that the use of payday loans were viable for anyone, including those who are served by a bank.
"Just because an adult with a bank account chooses to use an alternative financial service does not necessarily mean they are being underserved by their bank or are "underbanked," wrote DeVault.
She added that the importance of payday lenders existed because of the demand for their services from families who are not lacking financial knowledge, but rather are in need of an extra monetary boost that can be achieved without much complication.
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