State Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, is responding to the Nov. 2 editorial "Time to say 'no' to payday loan sharks." The editorial stated, "As we put it in 2009, payday loans are a 'modern-day form of usury.' California needs to follow the lead of the Defense Department and other states and give this lending practice a pink slip."

So, The Bee and San Jose Mercury News are out to save low-income borrowers from payday-lending "sharks" who float small loans to those in need until their next paycheck. But who'll protect the responsible and happy customers of payday lenders from do-gooders like those on The Bee's editorial board and Mercury News?

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a do-gooder as an "earnest" and "often naive" humanitarian or reformer. Add misguided and paternalistic. Claiming the moral high ground, do-gooders think they know what's best for those with less.

Do-gooderism was on parade Sunday, Oct. 30, in an "investigative" piece in the Mercury News and a Bee editorial the following Wednesday. Basing its editorial on the Mercury News report – a big mistake – The Bee wrote that those borrowing from payday lenders become entrapped in a "spiral of debt." Both papers say payday lenders should be banned.

My constituents think otherwise.

Sandra Vazquez, a health care specialist and mother of three, said proponents of a ban should walk in her shoes. "They must have money," she said.

Her family is middle class. But with a child in college the bills pile up. Payday loans help her avoid late-payment fees and dings to her credit. Eliminating payday loans "would jeopardize a lot of people," she said, "and not just low-income people."

Do-gooders ignore the fact that the vast majority of payday borrowers are satisfied, responsible customers like Vazquez. Furthermore, most borrowers aren't low-income at all, making an average $55,000 annually. Teachers and nurses are the most frequent borrowers, according to industry data. But let's not let the facts get in the way of a righteous story or editorial.

According to The Bee and Mercury News, infinite indebtedness comes by way of a 15 percent fee for each loan. In California, that's $45 on a maximum $300 loan to be paid in two weeks. But the newspapers, instead, call it an interest rate that grows to 460 percent with repeated loans every other week or so. Huh?

When asked if payday lending leads to spiraling debt, Cesar Garcia, a 25-year-old water-district driver and satisfied customer, responded with uncommon common sense: "It all depends on how you manage your money."

As for the $45 fee for a two-week loan, that's hardly suffocating, said Vasquez. "That's less than a dinner out."

Cesar Garcia, Sandra Vasquez and thousands of other satisfied payday-lending customers are not children. The Bee, the Merc and do-gooders elsewhere need to control their paternal instincts and stay out of the personal finances of others.

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