Kentucky bill was signed into law late yesterday.  Governor didn’t rule out further regulation, though.

Responding to the “South Carolina update” below:

Payday lending is thriving in NV, where there is a loan cap of 25% of the borrowers monthly gross. It is a reasonable cap. You need to be grossing $2000 a month to borrow $500. The restriction is intended to ensure the borrower has the ability to repay (which a good lender would do on their own, but we all know not all lenders were created equal).

From a just published story:

More than 1,600 public comments have been received by the Federal Reserves on its proposed overdraft protection rules.   From the story:

Some frequent complaints on the Fed’s site are about unexpected overdraft fees, exorbitant overdraft fee rates and the reordering of debits to increase fees. Thomas Madrid, Tucson, Ariz., commented on the Fed’s Web site that he has been “raked over the coals” the few times that he has overdrafted.

The comment period ends March 30.

A story about a small lender and it’s devoid of bias or criticism.   Too bad it’s from a Canadian newspaper.  Would love to see something like this about an American lender.

Feel good story of the day.  The Mayor of Los Angeles and community leaders are working to get 300,000 local citizens banked.

This company in Witchita is celebrating its 25th Anniversary.     They help to automate the rent-to-own ad payday lending industry.

Some Texas lawmaker thinks that paydays–on average around $300–are part of the bigger picture that involved AIG and the economic downturn.   This is simply ludicrious.  From the story:

Democratic lawmakers contend that predatory lending is thriving in some areas of the state, including West Texas.

The claims were part of a report three Democratic state senators, Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso, Wendy Davis of Fort Worth and Rodney Ellis of Houston, released Monday.

“Make no mistake,” Shapleigh said at a news conference. “The payday loans are part of that toxic package.”

The lawmaker was referring to real estate and other high-risk loans that caused the collapse of insurance giant AIG and some of the largest banks and mortgage companies in the nation.

When times are tough, lawmakers go into full pander mode.

They give everyone a bad name.   This is a story about an online lending company that appears to be set up to commit fraud.    If anyone from this company–500FastCash.com–has a response, we’d be happy to post it here.

ACE Cash Express, a large payday lender and check casher, will begin selling lottery tickets in North Carolina.