Category Archives: Illinois

PLS Financial Services offering payday loans to the unemployed

PLS is 28th on the Crain’s Fast Fifty list of fastest-growing local companies, although revenue is down this year. In 2008, this privately held company did $218M in revenues. President Bob Wolfberg says: “If you believe there’s nothing wrong with (this type of) loan, why should (the unemployed) be any different from someone who has […]

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Attorney Sues Americash for PayDay Loan Hell

It’s no secret that the current payday loan laws in Illinois, for lack of a better word, suck. Every cash advance lender, to my knowledge, is offering installment loans; which makes this class action law suit seem pretty silly. Americash is getting singled out for providing installment loans, under a completely different law and license. […]

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Payday loan ponzi scheme ring leader disappears

David Hernandez has a warrant for his arrest. The charges are for mail fraud, but the bigger picture is a payday ponzi scheme he operated. What’s worth mentioning about this story is that if someone offers you “guaranteed investment contracts” at rates of 10-16% you should run. It’s too good to be true. The FBI […]

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Payday loan ponzi scheme

Federal regulators accused the owner of a Chicago sports website on Monday of running an $11 million Ponzi scheme. The accused, David J. Hernandez, allegedly misrepresented the company as a successful business that invested in payday loan stores when in fact it was out of business. It also said he lied to investors when he […]

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Progress Illinois is one-sided

Progress Illinois’ Adam Doster is an opponent of payday lending. He writes for a blog titled Progress Illinois. He’s been blocking my comments on his posts b/c they conflict with his personal self interest. He’s a self proclaimed activist, which means he has an ego the size of a Volkswagen. I think this is a […]

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Still holding our breath in Illinois

SB1435 is stuck in the executive committee of the Illinois House. It’s a bad bill in my opinion, which is typical when you aim it at one group of people. It’s status is: “Motion Do Pass as Amended – Lost“ Two more days until this bill dies on Friday, May 29th. You can read more […]

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Lenders hold their breath in Illinois

Legislators have hacked a bill together in Illinois that will try and lock out smaller, local lenders. This bill can expire May 31st when the general session ends. Other possibilities is and extended session, if the budget does not get balanced. If the bill dies, everything starts over in November. It’s currently in the Executive […]

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Americash getting sued in Illinois

Attorney Tom Geoghegan thinks that Americash is breaking the law by offering installment loans. The industry has been offering installment loans as an alternative to payday loans since 2005. I have to imagine that there is already a precedent for this type of case in Illinois. Besides, how can they be skirting a law, if […]

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Illinois trying to cap rates at 99%

In Illinois, a payday lender can provide a 14 day cash advance and make $15 per $100. The problem is that the state database limits what people can borrow and completely eliminated rollovers by a cooling off period. Under this law, the industry would take a big financial hit. Ironically, this act was supported by […]

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The Illinois Department of Financial Institutions

This should go under my WTF post of the week. Illinois has been laying on the fines. This pdf is on the front page of the Illinois state’s site for January, 2009. All the payday lender fines start on page 3. Here’s just a taste: QC Financial Services, Inc., Waukegan – PLRA license (1265) fined […]

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