ABC Bank and Urban Partnership Bank Speak Out Against Predatory Loans

Medill Reports
Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A number of Chicago-based banks, including ABC Bank and Urban Partnership Bank, are seeking ways to direct the unbanked away from predatory small dollar loans. "I think we have questions about the responsibility about some of the [small-dollar loan] products,” said Levoi Brown, chief banking officer with Urban Partnership Bank. “A lot of these people are already in debt. So what you are doing is continuing to feed that cycle.” ABC Bank offers Ready Cash, a small-dollar loan product for the unbanked. Reginald Little, loan officer at ABC, said the product offers a much better interest rate and repayment than other nonbank firms. Mr. Little picked up an application form from a local payday loan lender and pointed at the 403 percentage rate. “Don’t you think that’s a bit abusive?”