California State Legislature

AB 2500 Denies Californians Access to Responsible, Regulated Credit Options

Blocking families from accessing certain types of loans would be particularly damaging for African American families. According to a study by the Center for the New Middle Class, even when African Americans have credit scores of 700 or above – generally considered to be a “good” score on a scale of 300 to 850 – their financial wellness resembles those with much lower credit scores. In fact, 80 percent of these families were likely to say that they live paycheck-to-paycheck, they were two and a half times more likely to overdraft on a bank account and they 28 percent less likely to have $1,200 set aside for a financial emergency.