The Cash Store bought Affordable Payday Loans, a 10 store operation in Ontario and Edmonton for an undisclosed amount.
Three of the locations will be consilidated with nearby Cash Store or Instaloans branches.
You can read the full article in RTT news.
In Missouri, Deputy General Counsel Mike Dandino said:
“customers who most often used payday loan services were poor, elderly or living paycheck to paycheck. Many of the same customers either face threats of disconnection or have fallen behind on bills, making them easy targets for high-interest loans.”
I find it hard to believe that a highly educated person would stereotype these people. New flash: people that use payday loans, use them b/c they can’t pay their bills on time.
In an article titled, “Public Counsel targets utility billing, payment practices“, some Missouri legislators want locations that offer payday loans to stop offering payment services for utilities.
Richard J. Mark, senior vice president of energy delivery at AmerenUE, said,
“the utility tried to provide customers as many options as possible, including payment centers spread across its 25,000-square-mile service area.”
Dandino also says:
“It is not in the interest of consumers to have utility companies steer customers to these predatory lenders,”.
Great! We have another Elliot Spitzer on our hands. Hey Dandino, just do you’re job and leave saving the world to to someone else. Ask the people who use payday loans properly, if they’re bad.
Payday loan scheme nets prison term for Clarksville securities broker. Alvin Allister Ambrose received 6 months in prison and is being forced to pay back $602k of $5m that was misappropriated. He had 180 investors at the time.
I’m sure he’ll file bankruptcy and the $602k will go away.
My question is how did he get 180 people to buy into this? I guess if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Another highly publicized ponzi scheme was reported here at PDL Industry back in June titled: Payday loan ponzi scheme .
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This is older news, but I think it’s worth discussing b/c the fallout is starting. The National Arbitration Forum is voluntarily ceasing consumer arbitrations. You can read an in depth article titled “National Arbitration Forum to Cease Administering All Consumer Arbitrations in Response to Mounting Legal and Legislative Challenges.“
Why are arbitration agreements important? I’m not an expert, but it does limit a borrowers ability to start or potentially participate in a class action lawsuit.
What should you do? Every payday lender should also make sure to remove National Arbitration Forum (1-800-474-2371) from their arbitration agreements. I’m just guessing, but having a defunct arbitration company may void your arbitration agreement.
A few that you can probably still use are: the American Arbitration Association (1-800-778-7879) http://www.adr.org/ or JAMS (1-800-352-5267) http://www.jamsadr.com/.
Ohio has been a pretty hairy situation. An article in Cleveland.com titled “Democrats seem in no rush to fix Ohio lender loophole.” by Thomas Suddes. Among other things, he had this to say:
“Lenders say they told legislators in 2008, and legislators understood, that lenders would indeed substitute mortgage and small-loan borrowing for the banned loans. (But lenders also claimed Widener’s bill would run them out of Ohio altogether.) Then there’s a “fairness” argument: Payday lenders argue the General Assembly won’t clamp down on banks’ bounced-check and cash-advance fees. (One reason for that: For most purposes, Congress monopolizes banking law.) Also on the table: The “use” or “market” argument: If no Ohioan ever needed a payday loan, the lenders would vanish. That is, unless Ohio assures poor Ohioans more credit options, Ohio should let lenders be. “
The Ohio lenders are definitely making their case.
If the state and national government are not enough, now payday lenders have the local city counsel to deal with.
The city of Wauwatosa (Wisconsin) has stopped EZ Corp from moving in. A state appelate court is holding up the decision that was made three years ago. In the meantime, EZCorp has 30 days to request the state Supreme Court review the decision.
Wondering what the reasoning was for this decision?
“Residents and city officials spoke out against the proposed store, claiming the business would draw crime to the neighborhood. Many also criticized the high fees and lending practices employed by the quick cash loan industry, calling them predatory.”
I hope Lawrence Myers is reading, so he can rip this town a new one.
You can read the full article here.
If you’re in the payday loan business, you should read this opinion titled “Community Conversation: Payday lenders do a needed service” written by a credit counselor named Kenneth King.
I got a kick out of this statement: “Payday borrowers often are portrayed as victims. I think “victim” is a strong word; a better term might be “maker of poor consumer choices.”
I’m all for payday loan alternative products. There is room in the market for anything that customers demand, but some of the things these articles allow to print are rediculous.
For example,
“It’s a high risk to the consumer,” Carrol says. The Better Business Bureau says when you see a triple digit interest rate, beware. “Let’s say you default on a loan like this, 500%,” Carrol says, “it can ruin your life, it’s huge.”
“Ruin your life”? I find that hard to believe considering payday loans:
Here’s what the article leaves out (I went to the credit unions website):
Sometimes, I think society wants lenders to give away free money. Even when interest rates are low, they use the term free money; but they expect you to pay back the amount you borrowed. People do not realize how many borrowers take out a loan and never make a single payment. This is why the fees are where they are.
You can read the article titled “Non-Profit Offers Payday Loan Alternative.”
Missouri made the news in an article titled, “Nursing home payday lenders scrutinized.”
The article is about a two companies that own 62 nursing homes and offer their employees payday loans. The payday loans are then deducted from their paycheck.
Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is, if they’re licensed.
The big news is that a lender can make good money in Missouri. Missouri lenders charge about $317M in fees. This is second, only, to California in payday lending. Missouri is also very favorable when it comes to car title loans and signature, installment loans. It’s also home to 34 online payday loan companies.
“Payday loans wiped out in Arkansas — is this a trend?” is the title of a Mitch Lipka article at WalletPop.com.
The article, itself, does not have too much meat. This is a compelling question.