Payday Pundit

An interesting letter to the editor in the Baxter Bulletin in Arkansas touches on motivation of city councils to ban payday lenders and other businesses they deem “aesthetically unacceptable.”  Definitely an interesting take on something we’ve seen repeated across the country in city council decrees — it’s worth a read.

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From the Arkansan Leader:
The 136 {Payday lending stores} still in operation include the 55 operating in defiance of Attorney General McDaniel’s order, and 81 that currently operate outside of state regulation.
McDaniel and his staff have said these 81 will face scrutiny and potential action given the Attorney General’s long-term goal that all payday lenders in […]

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In an update to the Arkansas report from yesterday was this little nugget at the end of an Arkansas News Bureau story:
Each and every payday lender operating in the state of Arkansas is currently under investigation by the AG’s office… It is our goal to stamp out payday lending in the state of Arkansas.
That quote […]

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The group Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending are garnering quite a bit of press coverage with their report on the state of the payday loan industry in Arkansas.  The AP reports:
A new report released Wednesday says a third of the payday lenders that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel ordered to close have remained open and restructured […]

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KARK 4 news in Arkansas reports that “numbers of payday lenders in Arkansas are dwindling.”  A recent report released by Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending notes:
There were 275 payday lenders in Arkansas in March 2006, and that number has fallen to 136 as of this month.
The Payday Pundit remains mystified as to why “consumer groups” […]

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Senator Blanche Lincoln’s attempt to raise a state-mandated cap on some loan interest rates in Arkansas was rejected by her senate colleagues last night.  The Arkansas News Bureau reports that the issue will now be debated in the U.S. House, and Arkansas legislators are optimistic about their chances of adopting the measure:
All four of the […]

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Actually, the development is taking place in Washingon, but would affect Arkansas’ usary laws.  According to the Northwest (Arkansas) Morning News:
{Senator Blanche} Lincoln wants to change a federal banking law to allow non-bank lenders to charge higher interest. The new interest rate cap would be 17 percent.
She said Wednesday that the Arkansas Student Loan Authority […]

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This newspaper requires a subscription, so we just posted the lead to the article here:
101 payday lenders close since March
More than 100 payday-lending stores in Arkansas have closed since they were ordered by Attorney General Dustin McDaniel in March to cease operations, the chairman of a group opposed to the practice said Thursday.

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The Associated Press is reporting that Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has filed four lawsuits against payday lenders that he says are violating the state’s constitution by charging high-interest loans.

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Car repo men and pawnshops booming in Arkansas and expected to grow in the wake of payday lending stores closing.   From the piece:
People pawn golf clubs, CDs, tools, and a big trader is gold jewelry. At nearly $1,000 an ounce, it’s hitting record levels.You know you can’t go to a bank and get a $25 […]

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