Christopher Lewis Peterson and Steven M. Graves
“This analysis suggests that… the payday lending industry has now fundamentally transformed the financial services sector catering to lower income Americans. Moreover, our findings should serve as conclusive proof that conservative Christian Americans are a prime demographic target of the payday lending industry.”
Christopher Lewis Peterson and Steven M. Graves came to this fascinating conclusion in a paper entitled Usury Law and the Christian Right: Faith Based Political Power and the Geography of the American Payday Loan Regulation.
Although the paper itself is due to be released this spring, a draft copy of the full report and raw data (including detailed maps) are available online…
Detailed data (including interactive maps) can be found at the California State University Geography Department website at the following link:
Usury Law and the Christian Right (External Link)
(http://www.csun.edu/~sg4002/research/usury.html)
A draft copy of the full report can be found at the Social Science Research Network website:
SSRN – Usury Law and the Christian Right: Faith Based Political Power and the Geography of the American Payday Loan Regulation (External Link)
(http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1092006)
The paper also concludes that conservative Christian states are legal safe havens for payday lenders:
“The elimination of traditional state usury law has facilitated nationwide growth of an industry of lenders charging average simple annual interest rates of over 450 percent. Rather than bastions of Christian charity, this study suggests that many conservative Christian states in particular have become legal safe havens for money changers that aggressively market usury to the America’s poor.”
Christopher Lewis Peterson is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Florida – Levin College of Law. Steven M. Graves teaches a variety of courses at the California State University, Northridge.
Source:
Usury Law and the Christian Right: Faith Based Political Power and the Geography of the American Payday Loan Regulation by Christopher Lewis Peterson and Steven M. Graves (Catholic University Law Review)
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