In Washington, clergy and community leaders from more than 15 states gathered to call for an end to loopholes in payday lending that they say continue to harm financially vulnerable borrowers. They are seeking a federal interest rate cap of 36 percent for payday loans:

Barrett Duke (Vice President for Public Policy and Research and Director of the Research Institute, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Church): “Predatory business model of the payday lending industry puts it in direct violation of the Bible’s teachings. Scripture makes it clear that God condemns activity that takes advantage of the poor and the desperate.”