Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis

A new partnership between HOPE and the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis (BCCM) aims to break the cycle of debt and poverty created by high-cost payday loans by offering Memphis residents affordable loans, financial counseling, and paths to economic stability.

In August 2021, the BCCM and HOPE launched the “Borrow and Save Loans” initiative to provide alternatives to the high-cost, predatory loans taken out by many Black residents of Memphis for emergencies. Many borrowers are unbanked, lack credit histories, and need amounts that are too small to be lent by traditional banks. Lacking access to capital, and living paycheck to paycheck, they turn to lenders that charge rates up to 400%, making the loans impossible to pay back and devastating borrowers’ credit ratings.

“Payday and car title loans drain millions per year from people in Memphis,” said Rev. Dr. J. Lawrence Turner, BCCM founder and president and senior pastor of the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. “Their fees trap people into long-term debt at triple-digit interest rates, plunging them into a cycle of debt taking years, if ever, to escape.  Many Memphians have been forced to obtain payday loans to meet financial emergencies. But relying on payday loans ends today. The partnership between the Black Clergy Collaborative and HOPE fills a critical need for people struggling to make ends meet who have been exploited by payday lenders for too long.  Today, we are taking steps to end that exploitation and move our people toward financial freedom.”

Approximately 7,000 members of 10 BCCM churches now have access to HOPE’s financial education and products. The collaboration focuses on creating awareness of the full range of options and services geared toward advancing economic mobility in Memphis, which is home to some of the poorest ZIP codes in the U.S. Through the partnership, the two organizations seek to increase opportunities to build credit and wealth and access to financial resources in case of emergencies. The Borrow and Save loans also help individuals build credit histories and increase their scores as the funds are repaid.

The partnership began after the BCCM’s economic empowerment committee honed in on predatory loans as a significant factor hindering the Black community of Memphis. The committee chairman, Rev. Darell Harrington, Senior Pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church, formerly worked for HOPE as a Financial Inclusion Officer and contacted CEO Bill Bynum.

“There has been a story told that the church is only concerned about the spiritual and the heavenly, that there’s no concern about the physical and the worldly,” said Reverend Ashton Alexander, Senior Pastor of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. “This collaboration has helped show the church’s concern not just with a person’s spiritual well-being but a person’s material reality. If you’re impoverished, that’s going to do something to your soul and to your spirit.”

When Ella Fitzgerald’s furnace went out, she turned to a high cost lender. She had previously borrowed money at reasonable terms from the parent institution of her lender, so she believed this loan would also be manageable. “When I started digging deep into it, I found out it had double-digit interest rates,” Fitzgerald said, noting that the $174 monthly payment would almost double the original loan amount. “I wasn’t pleased with it at all.”

Fitzgerald’s sister had an account at HOPE, so she went to the West Memphis branch. “I didn’t know HOPE was a Black-owned bank,” Fitzgerald said. “They were very warm when they greeted me and very helpful.” HOPE told her that they could offer her a secured loan for $88 in monthly payments.

Fitzgerald has since moved her checking and savings accounts to HOPE. “I don’t feel like a number. They look at you like a person and take into consideration the things that you’re going through and give you the different options to get you where you need to be,” she said. “We as a race don’t get the same shake and we need someone who’s there for us to help us in the areas we need to be helped.”