Moving from Pay Day Loans To Credit Union Accounts

Check Cashers Redeemed

Many low-income Americans were wary of banks even before the latest round of failures and takeovers. Is a semi-reformed payday lender the right guy to bring the urban poor into the banking system?

This New York Times story takes a social marketer's perspective in looking at the positive and negative role pay day lenders play in meeting the financial needs of immigrants and other low income people. A key insight is that only when we understand all of the benefits to using pay day lenders and all of the barriers to using commercial banks, can we move low income people toward the use of more traditional financial institutions.

Another key insight is that it is sometimes surprising to see what institutions in vulnerable communities are actually meeting immigrants' most basic needs.

Tags: Low Income Borrowers, Pay Day Loans, social marketing
Topics: Building Community, Cultural Competence, Economics, Social marketing