DoD Trains Its Guns On Payday Lenders
Things are really hotting up for the payday industry as Capitol Hill mulls a nationwide cap on the interest rates lenders can charge servicemembers for loans, a measure the Defense Department is pushing to protect its force. These loan centers are said to have sprung up like dandelions around military bases. Hilltoptimes.com reports:
The expanded education effort, launched last year, reached more than 400,000 servicemembers and their family members in 2005. In announcing the program, John Molino, then the deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy, noted the wide use of payday loans within the military has the potential to impact mission accomplishment. “If you’re in debt, you have other things in mind,” he said. “You’re doing things other than concentrating on the mission; maybe you’re taking on other employment. The effects are long-lasting and go deep into a person’s performance. It affects unit readiness.”