Check Cashing/Predatory Lenders and Hispanics

I intended to get back to this but got side tracked with all the Ford/Cohen stuff. Above is another version of the predatory lenders map. This time, I used Hispanic resident populations. I did this because of this statement in the Urban Institute paper.

“Third, alternative provider clusters (i.e., groups of at least five in close proximity to each other) are more likely to be found in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods than in predominantly African-American neighborhoods.”

Well it turns out that is true. Now this demographic data is from 2000, but the areas with sizeable Hispanic populations have continued to see increases. It is interesting that these predatory lenders focus on Hispanic populations. Could it be that they benefit from people, such as illegal immigrants, who are unable to get real banking services. This begins to scratch the surface of how complex the immigration issue is and all the interest groups involved. Lots of companies are making lots of money by screwing weak and vulnerable people. My guess would be that predatory lenders (and their respectable parent companies) would probably give a preponderance of campaign donations to Republicans. At the same time, these lenders may have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo in relation to immigration.

People have different views about what should be done on immigration, but no one can doubt that these lenders and their parent companies deliberately target financially vulnerable people. They are detestable.