Released: March 06, 2007

Critics of lending practices launch ad campaign

Source: Stuart Elliot, New York Times (Free Registration)

A bitter fight over lending tactics that critics decry as predatory is heating up as the two sides introduce ambitious marketing efforts intended to woo consumer support in the struggle.

An ad by Americans for Fairness in Lending asks whether a tornado, a fire, an earthquake or credit card debt caused the makeshift scene depicted.
A coalition of organizations that includes the Consumers Union, the NAACP and the United Automobile Workers plans to introduce today a campaign comparing the effects of so-called unfair lending practices with the havoc wreaked by natural disasters like earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and floods.

The campaign, by Benenson Janson in Studio City, Calif., is being financed partly by the Ford Foundation. The coalition, called Americans for Fairness in Lending, is seeking to amplify its message by teaming with a filmmaker, James D. Scurlock, who coincidentally has a documentary and a book on the subject, both titled “Maxed Out,” coming soon.

The campaign from the coalition, which includes print advertising and a web site, has been in the works for more than two years, its organizers say. The ads are being introduced 13 days after a trade organization for the payday-lending industry, which provides short-term cash advances, began a campaign centered on what it calls a voluntary “customer pledge” to help shield borrowers from abuses.

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