Blog

  • Check City donates $10,000 for Haiti relief

    Richard Rawle, CEO of Check City, presented the $10,000 check in support of the efforts to assist.  I think that’s exteremely generous.

    If you want to donate, you can do so at the American Red Cross.

  • CFPA making people dumber one American at a time

    Jonathan Mintz is the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs.  He compiled a “The Top 10 Financial Products and Services that Must Be Regulated in 2010” in the Huffington Post.

    Considering that payday loans are not even in NY, I would not call this guy an expert.

    I guess people want the government to start setting the price and terms for everything we buy.

    I’m all for the government protecting children, but we’re talking about voting adults.  This micromanaging of adults and their financial decisions is getting out of control.  It’s only making this country full of dumb people that want the government to fix all their problems.

  • Smart dumb people

    An intelligent person put together a pretty dumb article titled “Payday Loans vs Starbucks vs McDonalds“.

    What’s the point?  This never made any sense to me.

  • Wisconsin hanging in the balance

    Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan thinks the payday loan lobbyist are starting rumors that he would be removed from power.

    The bill that could cap the rates at 36% has about 43 representatives on board.  Unfortunately, they did not say how close this is to passing.

    If you’ve got better information, please let us know.

    You can read this article in its entirety in the Chicago Tribune.

  • Guilty plea in payday loan ponzi scheme

    As the old saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

    David Hernandez, of Downers Grove, is looking at between 6-14 years in prison.  He defrauded $6.3M between 2007 and 2009 from investors who believed he was running a very profitable payday loan business.

    What surprises me most is that he was able to con over 200 investors.  I”m sure he used the CashNetUSA story to lure his victims.  CashNetUSA is one of the great success stories in the cash advance industry.  It sold for around $265M.

    You can read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

    You can read more about the CashNetUSA deal in PDL Industry.

  • “micro-loans” via text-messaging

    I thought this was interesting.  Cash Store of Canada released an earnings report.  They posted a $5.5M profit in the second quarter.  This is a 28% increase from the previous year.

    What intrigued me was the micro-loan product via text messaging.  I guess they’re doing it in Finland and Sweden.  That part of the world is much more innovative than the US when it comes to cell phone technology.

    You read the full article in the Edmonton Journal.

  • Liberals feeling confident about payday lending reform in Iowa

    First, two Business Week articles involving payday lending in one day.  That’s a first.

    In an article titled Liberals push range of issues at Iowa Capitol, there is a lot on the agenda.  Most of it will not get passed but their feeling good about their chances of enforcing a new payday loan law.

    Does anyone have an insider information they want to share?

  • Arizona payday loan bill stalls

    Republican Rep. Andy Tobin of Paulden pulled his bill from a committee hearing agenda Monday but vowed to look for more support and bring it back.  On June 30th payday lenders, in Arizona, will lose their exception from the 36% usury cap.

    Today, there are over 600 payday lending locations in Arizona.  That would be a lot of empty real estate space, not to mention the jobs.

    You can read the full article in Business Week.

  • Payday alternative in San Francisco

    The Huffington Post was talking payday loans today.  The article is titled “An Alternative to Payday Lenders“.  It was your typical anti-payday loan stuff.  Here is the comment I left:

    I don’t know why everyone’s getting so emotional about this.  If you can get cheaper money, do it.  I commend the CU for offering this low cost alternative.  We should all advertise the hell out of this.  I hope they’re profitable and pop up everywhere.  Personally, I think they will go out of business charging 18%, unless they’re subsidized at some point.

    Let’s be honest, no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head when they get a loan.  Why do people, like Gavin, have to sensationalize it?   Do we really need to showcase the poor guy that lost his mother?  If payday loans are such a bad idea, then why are they so popular?  People, sometimes, need money (like yesterday) and no one, but a payday lender, will give it to them.

    Maybe we should rewrite this article about the poor guy who did not go to his mother’s funeral b/c he could not get $250.  If you ask me, it was money well spent.

    I think the PDL Industry should defend itself, but also also think you need to be realistic.  Some people will never want payday loans, under any circumstances.  You should tune them out.


  • Always looking for ways to interact with readers

    I added a tool called Skribit to this blog.  This tools helps my readers make suggestions for articles.  For example, someone may want to read an article on Regulation Z and APR calculation or industry benchmarks.

    If there’s something on your mind, let it go; and put it in the box to the right.