The survey was released by the Kentucky Youth Avocates and followed up a 2007 survey by that same organization:
A survey of low-income families in nine Kentucky counties showed that many turned to payday lenders because they couldn't access or didn't trust banking services.
That's one of the findings released Monday from a Kentucky Youth Advocates 2008 survey of families and their financial needs. Fifty-two people in Boyle, Campbell, Christian, Jefferson, Kenton, McCracken, Mason, Pulaski and Warren counties participated in focus groups and interviews over three months in 2008.
The 2008 survey is a follow-up to a 2007 Kentucky Youth Advocates and Brookings Institution study that showed that a quarter of low-income Kentucky families did not have a bank account. More low-income families also used high-cost check-cashing services - approximately 31 percent, compared with 5 percent of high-income families.
http://www.kentucky.com/210/st...
Who needs loan sharks now?? These places fill in the void nicely:
Short-term lending services provide immediate cash but often charge high interest rates. Some studies show that Kentuckians pay about $131 million a year in fees to payday lenders.
"Working families are struggling now, more than ever, to get food on the table and to make ends meet," said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. "When economic times are rough, Kentuckians are forced to find immediate cash and, unfortunately, many find it where the costs and consequences are high."
The survey found that many families didn't realize how much interest they were paying on the loans. Some interest rates can be as much as 400 percent on an annual basis.
But what else is the average Kentuckian to do when Mitch McConnell, Ed Whitfield, Jim Bunning, Geoff Davis, Hal Rogers and even Ann Northup have shipped all your jobs to Communist China to exploit an oppressed people one rung above slavery??
They made several reccommendations on how to deal with the problem:
The report suggests that Kentucky create alternatives to payday loans, such as the "Save It! Loan" program run by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development and the Appalachian Federal Credit Union. The program offers 10-month loans with a cash savings account.
Other recommendations include using churches to increase financial literacy and encouraging banks and the government to reach those who are distrustful of banks. The report also calls for a cap on payday-loan interest rates.
While these solutions are all well and good it is time for the voters of Kentucky to look at what has created this whole situation. In the late 80s through to the present our Republican Congressional delegation that served multiple terms apiece not only directly contributed in crashing our nation's economy in the ditch, they totally destroyed the job market in Kentucky.
People are now forced to work the jobs that Republicans have long sought to create all while destroying high-paying union jobs and now they cannot afford make ends meet. They are forced to rely on predators and pay rates that repeat the cycle of poverty next week.
In Kentucky and all over this nation we simply must support real Progressive candidates that seek to create high-paying jobs and insure that everyone that works in this country will be able to make a living. Kentucky Republicans have sold us away to Communist China, Malasia, South America, or anyone else that will pay slave wages and steal American jobs with oppressed workers.
This study just confirms what many in this state have known for a while. Kentucky Republicans have destroyed this state in Washington. Exxon Ed Whitfield and Mitch McConnell sum up their thoughts on Kentucky voters nicely:
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