Greater than one-in-three payday loans made in the state of Florida are done in the Pensacola, according to a study by the Research Institute on Social Economic Policy at Florida International University. Florida’s payday lending industry is a $2.85 billion business.
“The region with the greatest number of payday loans was Pensacola, with Miami and Orlando in distant second and third place, respectively,” reported RISEP. “The Pensacola metropolitan statistical area has a population of about 455,000 compared to Miami’s regional population of 5.7 million. However, the Pensacola region was home to 39.9 percent of all Florida payday loan transactions in 2012 while the more populous Miami accounted for 17.8 percent of payday transactions.”
Another horrible statistic for our community to lead the state.
The size of the payday lending industry is driven by “loan churning” as borrowers renew loans or take out another loan within days of paying back a loan. According to the report, the lenders charge an average annual percentage rate (APR) of 280 percent for a two-week loan. The typical payday lending customer uses 25 percent of their biweekly grow income on payday loans.
The Community Enterprise Investments, Inc. is partnering with the Raise Florida Network, Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church and Friendship Primitive Baptist Church to host a town hall meeting Payday Lending on Aug. 28 at Zion Hope. I will post more information closer to the date.