Saturday, August 18, 2007

In "Payday Loan Industry Launches Ad Blitz" [Metro, Aug. 15], staff writer Nikita Stewart reported that the D.C. Financial Services Association, representing the majority of payday loan stores in the District, has begun an advertising campaign to persuade the D.C. Council to reverse its recent 12-0 vote to limit payday lending fees. The article also noted that the association is polling District residents to assess public opinion on payday loans.

On Aug. 14 I got a call from someone who said he was with the polling firm Zogby International. His biased questions about payday loans were an obvious attempt to persuade me to support payday lending in its current form rather than elicit my honest opinions.

This "poll" is nothing but an arm of the association's campaign to influence public opinion, and I hope that the D.C. Council and The Post will take its "results" with the grain of salt they deserve.

CARA SPENCER

Washington