The Prez is meeting with them at the White House this morning:

White House aides said Obama’s meeting with the credit executives is part of a broader outreach to different segments of the business community.

At issue is how to protect consumers, particularly in a severe economic downturn, while not imposing the kind of rules that could make it harder for banks to offer credit or that put credit out of reach for many borrowers. Industry advocates are wary of those consequences and hopeful Obama will listen.

This cracked me up.

And it’s from the Salt Lake City Tribune:

Not much separates 1960s Mafia heavies and today’s payday lenders: La Cosa Nostra charged its debtors 250 percent interest. Fifty years later, the check-cashing industry is even more ambitious. They charge up to 500 percent.

But while loan sharks are reviled, modern-day business-suited predatory lenders are treated like legitimate corporate citizens in Utah. This week, the Salt Lake City Council feebly — and much too late — attempted to curb the clustering of usury shops along city blocks. They say that’s all they can do.

I’m almost speechless.  Does this reporter have any perspective?  Mob loan sharks will be back in business if payday lending is banned.   I’d love to introduce this reporter to a real loan shark and a payday lender and then ask who she’d rather borrow money from.

The Payday Pundit isn’t sure if the Governor is genuine or is merely trying to raise money from the industry for state coffers.  From the story:

The proposals, which Markell will discuss next week in his address to a joint session of the Delaware General Assembly, focus on a particular type of predatory lenders: those who issue payday loans and title loans.

Specifically, the legislation would require that any payday lender who wants to set up shop in Delaware be licensed by the state and would need to pay a $1,500 fee that will go to making low-interest lending programs available. The Governor also proposal also demands a similar license and fee from title lenders and goes one step further by requiring the lenders to cease all liabilities on the loan once the family surrenders the title.

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Recession and additional regulation have shrunk the ranks of cash parlors in Virginia more than 19 percent since December. There now are 630 payday-lending outlets — down from 786, according to the State Corporation Commission.

Leading the exodus is Check ‘n Go of Mason, Ohio, which is closing its 68 Virginia outlets. It is among five instant lenders surrendering their payday licenses to Virginia regulators.

“We’re fighting to survive,” said W. Allen Jones, founder and chairman of another major lender, Check Into Cash of Cleveland, Tenn., the nation’s largest privately owned payday lender.

“People will not overspend; they’re not confident in their jobs.”

But rather than leave the state, Check Into Cash is closing 19 of 64 stores — idling about 60 workers — and shifting to pricier, lightly regulated open-ended loans. This could buttress annual profits that, when the company was offering only payday loans, had fallen to about $10,000 per store from $15,000 in 2004.

Legislators always think payday lenders are bluffing when they say jobs will be lost, stores will close if onerous restrictions are imposed.  Well, what do they think now?

A breathless description of last night’s vote from the Seattle Times:

In a 25-24 vote on Wednesday, the Senate rejected the House’s request, sending the measure back to the lower chamber unchanged. The bill appeared doomed.

But just minutes later, in a surprise move, the House voted to send the bill back to the Senate, and after some political maneuvering senators stripped their own amendment and approved the House version of the bill. The measure cleared the Senate on a 26-23 vote.

The bill establishes a data base and limits loans to 30 percent of a borrower’s monthly  income or $700.  It also includes a new extended payment plan.

Ever hear of the TALF?  From today’s Washington Post:

Officials envisioned TALF supporting tens of billions of dollars a month in new lending, saying it could eventually total $1 trillion. But in March, when it was launched, it backed only $4.7 billion in auto loans and credit cards. For April, it logged only $1.7 billion.

Payday loans may be the only lending model working right now.

It has something to do with payday lending in Canada.

From the story:

Some bring their jewelry; others, their toys or the emblems of their pastime pursuits.

“We just took in a coin collection valued at $100,000,” Chasin said.

His safe also holds an Olympic bronze medal.

Ten days ago, Canaday, who keeps a 3-pound Maxwell House can beneath the counter to store pawned wedding bands, dumped the full-to-the-brim tin into packages bound for a gold refiner. Rings engraved with “Love Always” and “‘Til Death” were melted down to puddles of shimmering gilt.

Ohio has been hit by the recession as bad as any state in the country.  People need access to cash.  Meanwhile, the legislature is trying to find a way to make things tougher on payday lenders.  It just makes no sense.

I agree! With the economic crisis that we are having now these stores come in handy for “responsible” people.

I think that the laws should be put back to the way they were to begin with. Then, employees who have lost their jobs because of these changes can go back to work & stop drawing unemployment benefits!