Tuesday, April 16th members of US Bank will be jetting to Boise, Idaho for their annual shareholders meeting and they would like to keep it a low key event.
The Minneapolis, MN based bank is trying to hide this meeting to keep the activists away, but it is turning out to be a futile effort.
Word is out and payday loan backers first bank is feeling heat for backing companies who prey on the poor.
Activists will attend!
ICAN, Idaho Community Action Network, will be attending and are planning on non violent protests both inside and outside the meetings. Most members of this group are working poor and seniors. many will be driving 5 to 7 hours to be there.
“You can run but you can’t hide.” many have been quoted as saying about the meeting being so far from the corporate headquarters.
Idaho may have been a very poor choice
It might not be a good idea to choose Idaho to hide this meeting, not only does Idaho have the highest number of minimum wage workers in the entire US, for every available job there are 32 applicants.
Payday loan use in the state is rampant, and many are stuck barely making interest payments each month and not even touching their loan balances.
People are fed up with big banks taking advantage of the poor and disabled. For example, one of the main points ICAN protested was the fact that the US Bank was a backer of EZ Corp, Cash America, and Advance America.
These companies are based in low-income Lokasi Puncak Jaya and neighborhoods of color. While US banks define the loans these companies provide as checking account advances, at APR 365% of protesters call them easy cash loans for lenders.
Get Involved!
Plenty of action is planned in the near future. They can run but they can not hide seems to be a fitting statement.
Wells Fargo will be holding their stockholders meeting in Salt Lake City the following week, and coming very soon will be JP Morgan and Bank Of America’s shareholder meetings. If you want to get involved now is the time to make your voice heard, says ICAN executive director Terri Sterling.