Consumer Law In the News

Former Candidate for SC Governor - A Democrat - Takes Payday Lending Lobbyist Position

I’m disappointed. It’s not often I copy and paste wholesale from other articles or posts but this is one time I’m going to do just that. From AP via The Sun News:

A national payday lending group announced Monday it is hiring a former
Democratic gubernatorial candidate to be its executive vice president.

Community
Financial Services Association of America is bringing in Tommy Moore,
who resigned from his Aiken County senate seat this weekend, to lobby
and do public relations for the payday lending industry. The businesses
provide loans of several hundred dollars for several weeks at high
interest rates.

The industry has been sharply criticized recently
by people who said it takes advantage of poorer consumers and the high
interest rates send them into a spiraling crush of debt. But payday
lenders have said the businesses provide a vital service and consumers
pay more in fees in the long run when they bounce checks while trying
to pay the bills.

“At this point in my career, I saw an exciting
opportunity to take on a new challenge that builds on my long history
of supporting and protecting consumers,” Moore said in a news release
issued by the group.

Initially on Monday, Moore would not talk
about his new job. He did not immediately respond to a message left on
his cell phone after the announcement was made.

Association
spokesman Steven Schlein would not disclose how much Moore would be
paid. The group paid its executive director $132,749 plus an
undisclosed sum included in a $1.2 million “management fee” in 2005,
the most recent year available from Guidestar, nonprofit research group.

For whatever it’s worth, I agree with John Ruoff, director of research for South Carolina Fair Share, who had this to say: “We’re deeply disappointed he would take a job like this. These are bad
guys and they do shameful things.”

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