Payday lending customers in Arizona speak out

Arizonans for Financial Reform has posted a video testimonial of customers who have actually used a payday loan. Customers explain why they used the service and why it is important for them to have the option. They clearly do not want the government taking their options away.
Go to http://www.affr2008.org/ and click on “testimonials” to view.

Why do payday loans cost what they cost?

Payday lenders are often asked what is the minimum fee they need to make a profit and stay in business. While this figure differs company by company and city by city, the payday loan product offered by Goodwill provides insight to the cost of offering payday loans. 
Prospera Credit Union, in partnership with Goodwill, a non-profit, [...]

“We didn’t make any money on it” says Credit Union

Can you guess what the IT is?  Their short-term payday loan “alternative” of course.   The Herald Newspaper of South Carolina discusses the Family Trust Federal Credit Union’s experience with short-term loans briefly in this story.

Update: South Carolina

The House subcommittee action in South Carolina is described in this article in the State Newspaper.  No details on how quickly legislation is moving. 

Center for Responsible Lending’s “Big Lie”

The Center for Responsible Lending continues to promote a report, “Financial Quicksand” that reaches conclusions about the payday lending industry that have been debunked by Veritec Solutions, the data gathering company whose numbers CRL misused. 
Veritec found that conclusions made in the CRL Report are not an accurate reflection of statistical information.
False conclusion #1: Ninety percent of payday lending revenues are based [...]

Some Arkansas payday lenders stay open

This article says some Arkansas payday lenders have tweaked their business model to operate under different regualtions.  From the article:
“One model involves cashing checks and charging membership fees,” Allen said. “It’s only limited by a person’s creativity. 
“The idea is for them to separate as much as possible the interest from the loan,” Allen said.
The entire article [...]

Update: Ohio

This article from the Columbus Dispatch captures the latest payday lending news from Ohio.   It looks like some Democrats might be trying to put a rate cap back on the table:
{House Speaker} Husted would not say if there are discussions include something other than a 36-percent cap, or if he personally is pushing for it. The [...]

Report on Ohio hearing

The payday lending industry was well represented at the Ohio hearing yesterday by D. Lynn DeVault, President of the Community Financial Services Association, and Darryl Dever, a lobbyist for the state association.  Ms. DeVault made the important point that the rate cap law in Oregon forced payday lenders to close their doors.  From the article:
Lynn DeVault [...]