The responses to my article for The Wall Street Journal “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages” keep coming… They’re thoughtful, challenging, and occasionally humbling. What started as a critique of an outdated lending standard has evolved into a larger conversation about financial literacy, honesty in measurement, and the way we misunderstand the true cost of money. […]
When The Wall Street Journal published my op-ed, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” I expected disagreement. What I didn’t expect was the flood of thoughtful, funny, and occasionally fiery responses from readers across the country. Read the full series here. Some wrote to debate, others to commiserate, and a few to wonder aloud whether the […]
After my recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” readers had plenty to say. Some were critical, most were kind, and many brilliantly insightful. Below is a selection of responses, shared anonymously for privacy, that reveal how deeply Americans feel about the strange alchemy of homeownership, debt, and the illusion […]
Originally published at realclearmarkets.com on September 22, 2025. Senator Dick Durbin has spent much of his career in a love affair with price controls. He flirted with them in his infamous Durbin Amendment, the addendum to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. He renewed his vows with Senators Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley in pushing a 10 percent ceiling on credit […]
When Wells Fargo first rolled out its Flex Loan program, it was heralded by advocates like The Pew Charitable Trusts as evidence that America’s largest banks were finally offering an “affordable” alternative to short-term credit products. Bankrate’s own review of the Flex Loan paints a favorable picture, touting fast approval, lower fees than payday loans, […]
SPPI shares insights on the impact of the war on specialized emergency lending at AFSA’s conference in Las Vegas.
In this podcast episode, we discuss the aftermath of the AFSA 2023 Independents Conference & Expo, where Patrick Brenner, President of the Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), presented findings from the "No Loan for You!" report. The report sheds light on how the war on specialized emergency lending is negatively impacting the unbanked and underbanked […]
We tested the prediction that banks will step in when payday lenders face restrictions. They didn’t want our business.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Rio Rancho, NM – Patrick Brenner, founder and president of the Southwest Public Policy Institute, called out the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) misleading attack on small-dollar lending in a new report. “While the report includes dozens of false assertions about the industry – from using the meaningless metric of APR, to making […]
