Rent-A-Center Picks Payday Loans Over Hunger Programs
Posted by David | Tagged as: No Fax Payday Loans
Rent-A-Center, that ubiquitous rent to own store where credit-starved consumers can load up on furniture and electronics, took a bold step to fight a payday loan law in Ohio. What many folks may not know is that Rent-A-Center runs Cash AdvantEdge, a no fax payday loan operation.
In Ohio, Cash AdvantEdge charges fees for payday loans that are equivalent to an annual percentage rate of 782%, according to the Wall Street Journal. There is legislation pending in Ohio that would cap these interest rates. On Wednesday, that bill passed in the Ohio House.
What has Rent-A-Center so bent out of shape is that an Ohio food-bank association supports the legislation. According to a Wall Street Journal article, executives at Rent-A-Center made a series of telephone calls to America’s Second Harvest threatening to yank charitable contributiosn from hunger programs unless they withdrew their support for the Ohio payday loan legislation. Rent-A-Center has confirmed the phone calls, saying they didn’t want its $500,000 pledged to an organization that was supporting anti-payday loan legislation.
The legislative chairman of the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending was not impressed, calling Rent-A-Center’s tactic “out of bounds.” He said Rent-A-Center is just “trying to buy people off.”
Cash AdvantEdge operates no fax payday loan centers online. According to its website, a $100 payday loan costs $20 in fees.