CfA Seeks Information On Payday Lending Study Commissioned At Kennesaw State University (GA)
Image: Taber Andrew Bain
The payday lending industry is controversial. Many critics feel that short-term, high interest loans hurt borrowers. It seems the Consumer Credit Research Foundation (CCRF) doesn’t like this negativity and sought to influence the debate by commissioning a pro-payday lending study at Kennesaw State University. When CFA submitted an open records request to KSU in order to learn more about this study, that’s when we got push back from CCRF.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle recently covered our action.
For its part, in its open record request to Kennesaw State, the Campaign for Accountability says the Consumer Credit Research Foundation is funded by financial institutions including payday lenders. “Its funding of this project raises serious questions about the objectivity of Professor Priestley’s study and the extent to which it was tainted by industry-financed bias,” wrote Anne Weismann, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability.
She went on to say the Campaign for Accountability “seeks the requested information to educate the public about the true financial interests behind purportedly academic studies claiming payday loans do not pose a financial harm to borrowers.”