NEW YORK – Third Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader hasdecried payday lending in an article and praised communitydevelopment credit unions' efforts against the high interestlending. Nader's article, written for In the Public Interest andpublished electronically by ProgressiveTrail.Org, claims thatpayday loan outlets have almost doubled in the past four years,from 12,000 in the year 2000, up to 22,000. Nader cites industrystatistics of $40 billion loans made in 2003 generating $6 billionin revenue. “On average,” writes Nader, “payday lenders chargeinterest rates of 390 percent.” “The hard truth,” Nader writes, “isthat banks with few exceptions don't make small consumer loans, ofthe $200 or $500 or even the $1,000 and $2,000 variety,” leavingthe field open to high-cost predatory lenders. Cliff Rosenthal saidthat while the famous consumer advocate and candidate was off insome credit union details in the piece, CDCUs were nonethelessworking hard in the field helping their members avoid these loans.The Federation recently unveiled a grant program that will helpCDCUs test new payday loan alternative products.