D.C. Payday Lenders Unbowed Ahead of Vote

Yesterday, Check 'n Go, a payday lender, issued a statement saying that "former employees and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) have colluded and conspired to tarnish the company and the entire payday loan industry."

The industry is trying to improve its image not only among council members but also among community leaders, said Willie Green, senior adviser of community and minority affairs for the Community Financial Services Association.

Green said a common criticism from community leaders was that the industry does not give back to the community. So the association recently encouraged its members to make monetary and volunteer contributions, he said.

The industry has been rebuffed by several community leaders, Green said. "We get criticized for not reinvesting back into the community. But then, when we try to reinvest in the community, you say, 'Oh, that's just smoke and mirrors,' " he said.

On Friday, the office of D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee pulled the plug on the Community Financial Services Association's "Youth Learn and Save Rally," a financial literacy workshop for high school students that was to be held at the FBR branch of the Boys & Girls Club.

Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for Rhee, said officials at the high schools did not know that the association was embroiled in a political debate. "Once it was brought to our attention, we immediately called the schools," she said. "It was not acceptable."

A planned donation of $10,000 to expand a Boys & Girls Club financial literacy program at Ballou Senior High School is now up in the air, said Kathleen Moore, director of partnering and program development for the association. Participating students would receive $100 savings bonds, she said.

Unlike the school district, Albert "Butch" Hopkins, who heads the Anacostia Economic Development Corp., said that there is nothing wrong with accepting a contribution and that he considered it separate from the political debate.

His organization received $100,000 from Check 'n Go to help minority entrepreneurs. Hopkins said he supports payday lending with the reforms proposed by the industry. "If they give you a bed of thorns, you take the rose. Why not take the rose?" he asked.