Connecticut Governor Promotes Payday Lending In His Campaign
Running for Connecticut governor, Republican businessman Bob Stefanowski promotes his collaboration with such up-market companies as General Electric and UBS Investment Bank. But the attention-getting role is played by his latest job – CEO of a global payday lending company.
Competitors have dropped down on Stefanowski’s participation in a company offering credit products that are banned in Connecticut. During the Republican Party primary elections, one candidate’s advertisement dubbed him “Payday Bob.”
The 56-year-old candidate for governor reports about his experience in settling the troubled company DFC Global Corp., based in Pennsylvania. This would serve him well in eliminating the stubborn budget deficit of the state.
Overview of Stefanowski’s stay at the head of DFC Global Corp. from 2014 to January 2017 demonstrates that he has magnified its financial performance and taken steps to meet regulatory requirements. It also suggests that he has struggled to make long-lasting changes to a practice described by critics as profiting off of the poor and people in financial difficulties.
Payday loans are unsecured short-term loans that typically let lenders receive payments from a customer’s checking account regardless of whether they have favourable balance. As stated by https://www.abwfct.org/, these actions are invalid and illegal in Connecticut unless they are issued by certain exempt organizations, such as banks, credit unions, and small loan licensees. Local credit card companies can only charge up to 36% annually. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, 15 states and the District of Columbia have introduced double-digit marginal rates on payday loans.
Stefanowsky joined the company in November 2014. He left CFO of UBS investment bank post in London. DFC recently agreed to refund more than 6,000 UK customers who were approved loans for amounts they could not afford to pay back, after the UK Financial Conduct Authority hardened the regulations of issuing payday loans amid calls for stricter regulation by anti-poverty campaings.
In the first month on Stefanowski’s job, he said he retired 20 of the top 30 DFC employees. About 147,000 more clients were in demand to repay loans in 2015 during his ruling. He claimed it took place after one of his administrative authorities discovered bad practice in payment collection practices during an internal audit.
DFC also agreed to collaborate with regulatory authorities “to clear up the mess in the interests of its clients and guarantee that such practices will sink into oblivion,” according to the Financial Supervision Authority statement.
Luz Urrutia, who worked for Stefanowski as the US company’s CEO, claimed she was incredulous about cooperating with a payday lender, but Stefanowski traded her an opinion on how responsible lending for underserved populations was conducted. She announced she was greatly proud of the collaboration they had done, including a credit product with a 36% cap in California, but the company’s owners didn’t fully agree.
Stefanowski left the office in January 2017. His explanation was that he wanted to work in a worldwide company, but this one was trading its European departments. He continued working as a DFC councellor for a year to help bring to an end the sale.
In December 2017, the nonpartisan group for US Financial Reform, in a research of direct investments in companies issuing payday loans, noted that DFC still provides loans at extremely high rates, including a 14-day loan in Hawaii with a rate of up to 456%.
Stefanowsky claimed he didn’t follow DFC Global after he he left, never to return.
He still advocates his interests to join a work, despite the fact that many people bring it into question, claiming that it provided an opportunity to run a worldwide corporation and help people who do not have access to loans.
His top competitor, Democrat Ned Lamont, another wealthy businessman who established a cable TV company, constantly criticized Stefanowski for working at DFC, calling payday lenders “bottom-catchers” of the economy. Stefanowski hit back at Lamont, accusing him of personally benefiting from the payday lending industry and calling him a hypocrite.
Stefanowski is referring to Oak Investment Partners, where Jean Lamont Annie works as managing director. Oak made an investment in a British payday lending company. Lamont’s campaign called the ad false and said the investment was not within Annie Lamont’s extent of the applicability of a law.
A Quinnipiac University recent pool discovers that Stefanowski comes along with some challenges when we speak about the admiration to others, especially women. Among probable voters, 39% have an efficient opinion of Stefanowski, while 44% have an unfavorable opinion. Among women, 50% treat it unfavorably.
Category: General
Tags: election, finance, payday loans