UPCOMING & LATEST SHOWDOWN EVENTS
Direct Action on Advance America (#1 Payday Lender)
December 12 - Member of Central Illinois Organizing Project (CIOP) and Homeless United for Change (HUC) demonstrated at payday lender tied to 400% interest rates and funded by big bank receiving $45 billion taxpayer bail-out on Saturday.
Watch the video news coverage HERE.
Advance America charges it's "customers" loan shark interest rates of 400%. In turn, Advance America enjoys a line of credit from Bank of America for $270 million at 3% interest. Bank of America received a tax payer bank bail-out of $45 billion. Other big banks like Wells Fargo provide capital to payday lending companies as well. Bottom line: taxpayers help fund payday lenders. Payday lenders and the big banks that fund them with our money symbolize the old-order economy and everything wrong with the banking industry.
For the holidays, CIOP demanded:
• Advance America and other payday lenders should lower their interest rates to 10%.
• Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other big banks should stop all home foreclosures during the holidays.
CIOP is a regional inter-faith community organization working for social justice. It is composed of 38 member churches and organizations representing over 30,000 families in Central Illinois. CIOP has member groups in Decatur, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign, Danville, Peoria, Springfield, East St. Louis, and a rural family-farm organization and homeless rights organization, Homeless United for Change (HUC). CIOP is a member of National People's Action.
Iowans Converge on Predatory Payday Lender
December 5 - Sixty members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) converged on ACE Cash Express in Des Moines to demand good, affordable credit for all Iowans and an end to predatory loan policies, such as 400 percent interest rates and two week payback periods.
“Payday lending… is not good credit,” reads a letter the group delivered to ACE Check Express. “Crushing interest rates [400%] and unrealistic payback periods make it impossible for most Iowans to escape the payday lending debt cycle after just one loan.”
Iowa CCI members demanded that Ace Cash Express set an example for the rest of the industry by capping interest rates during the holiday season at 10 percent, and extending repayment periods from two weeks to two months.
CCI also called on the Iowa state legislature to pass interest rate caps and extended repayment periods during the 2010 legislative session. House File 288 and Senate File 463 both include provisions aimed at cracking down on payday lending.
“These payday lenders are taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in our community,” said CCI member Mike McCarthy of Des Moines, “Enough is enough. This sort of usury is intolerable. It’s time to crack down on predatory lending!”
ACE Cash Express, based in Texas, is one of several payday lenders operating in the Des Moines area that is directly financed by Wells Fargo. Documents filed with the SEC have shown that ACE Cash Express receives a $265 million line of credit from Wells Fargo. CCI members continue to demand that Wells Fargo stop financing payday lenders.
Illinois Community Shuts Down Payday Lender
November 30 - Members of the Central Illinois Organizing Project (CIOP) shut down the offices of Advance America on Black Friday to demand an end to usury and foreclosures during the holidays.
Fifty members of the Central Illinois Organizing Project, fired up from the Showdown in Chicago and recent actions on the Treasury and Goldman Sachs in Washington DC, marched to Advance America’s Bloomington office. They delivered the demand that the predatory lender limit interest rates to 10% during the month of December. Advance America is the biggest payday lender and is known to charge as much as 400% interest. Research by National People’s Action shows that they and other payday lenders target low-income communities and minorities. Advance America locked down the building to keep the protesters out, but CIOP was able to get their demand letter delivered by the police.
Advance America is financed by Bank of America. BofA gives them a $270 Million line of credit, even while foreclosing on families and after receiving $47 Billion in bailout dollars from those families. This is one of the most perverse examples of communities being forced to finance their own destruction. As CIOP Director Don Carlson put it, “Taxpayers are funding big banks to fund payday lenders to charge us 400% interest.” CIOP also demanded that Bank of America cease all foreclosures during the month of December.
The action was covered by local TV and radio, and was part of an ongoing series of actions across the country to hold banks accountable for breaking our economy. Enough is enough – CIOP and NPA don’t intend to stop until we have a financial system that works for the people instead of against them.
Showdown in DC - November 16
One hundred delegates from the Showdown in Chicago converged in DC to deliver a letter to Congress and the Administration. The event was organized by National People’s Action and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Download the PRESS RELEASE.
Federal Reserve Field Meeting in Brockton, MA - November 1
Six hundred community members from Brockton Interfaith Community (BIC), an affiliate of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network and PICO National Network, met with Chairman Barney Frank, Congressman Stephen Lynch, and representatives from the Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston at a town hall meeting on the foreclosure crisis at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Brockton, MA.
Watch VIDEO of the meeting and bus tour