Arthur Griffith II knows what it means to watch money disappear faster than it comes in. After working for 16 years as a Global Product Manager at Intel and nearly a decade as a mortgage and loan officer, he saw a troubling pattern repeat itself in his community. People were turning to payday loans out of desperation, only to end up deeper in debt.
So he built a solution.
Arthur is the founder of Boomerang REFI, a new app that helps people escape predatory payday loans and also avoid payday loans altogether. As a recent graduate of CLTRE’s EveryDay Creative Accelerator, Arthur has taken the next step. With support from CLTRE and the City of Sacramento, he launched a pilot program this summer to prove that his idea can work. His goal is simple and powerful: to help people in Sacramento break free from payday loans and get back on track.
“The average payday loan in Sacramento is $300,” Arthur says. “But it gets rolled over again and again until it ends up costing $900. That’s money being taken from the people who can least afford it.”
What makes Boomerang different is how it works. The app allows borrowers to use their smartphone as digital collateral. If a payment is missed, the phone’s functions are temporarily reduced to just emergency services and customer support. Once a payment is made, full access is restored. There is no interest during the pilot. The goal is not profit. The goal is proof.
“We want to show that when people are given fair terms and clear expectations, they repay,” Arthur explains. “We believe people want to do the right thing. They just need a better option.”
Arthur’s pilot program is focused on lending up to $300 to people who are currently stuck in payday loan cycles and replacing those loans with affordable, zero-interest installment loans. Instead of handing over cash, Boomerang pays lenders, utility companies, auto repair shops, and even grocery stores directly using secure, one-time-use digital cards. This protects borrowers from fraud and keeps the focus on financial relief.
Through a partnership with the City of Sacramento, CLTRE seed funded Arthur’s pilot with $5,000 after he completed the accelerator. This support helped him take the next step in launching and testing his model with real borrowers in Sacramento and highlights the role that local partnerships play in strengthening Sacramento’s Creative Economy.
Across the United States, 12 million people take out payday loans each year. These loans generate over $9 billion in interest, fees, and overdraft charges—much of it extracted from low-income and minority communities. In Sacramento alone, $757 million was lost from Black and Latino neighborhoods last year due to payday loan cycles. Boomerang’s pilot seeks to flip that script and offer a new standard for affordable credit access that benefits the community and contributes to a more resilient Creative Economy.
If successful, the pilot will prove that smartphone-secured lending can lower default rates, reduce interest burdens, and restore agency to borrowers. Boomerang’s success could open doors to new partnerships, expansion across the state, and even national adoption of its patented Secured Device Lending System.
“There are more payday loan shops in Sacramento than there are McDonald’s,” Arthur says. “They’re all in low-income neighborhoods. That’s not an accident. It’s a system that traps people. Boomerang is our way out.”
At CLTRE, we believe in investing in people who are building real solutions. Arthur is one of those people. He is not only disrupting a harmful system, he is offering hope to those who need it most and proving that innovation grounded in community is the true foundation of the Creative Economy.
If you are struggling with payday loans and want to be part of the Boomerang pilot program, visit www.myboomerangapp.com and fill out the application.
Applications will be open from August 1 through August 14.
