A group of faith leaders that took part in a Washington forum on Capitol Hill have CONDEMNED payday & title loans, calling them immoral debt traps. They spoke recently at an event organized by California Representative Maxine Waters. Waters says she's going to call for widespread divestment from these lending firms. A representative of The Center for Responsible Lending says there are more payday lending & title loan firms in our country than McDonalds & Starbucks combined! The group says borrowers who use their paychecks, bank accounts or car titles as collateral, can face interest rates & fees for extensions totaling as high as 500%. The Reverend Shane Scott, a pastor in the Watts section of Los Angeles, says there are 9 payday loan firms in his zip code alone! Rabbi Jonah Pesner, senior vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism said, "incarceration is the new Jim Crow & predatory lending is the new slavery." The Reverend Sekinah Hamlin of Ecumenical Poverty Initiative says the payday loan industry has used donations to gain the support of lawmakers & even within the divil rights community & church groups.

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