Is PDL an issue in S.C. governor’s race?
February 10, 2010 | South Carolina, industry | Comments (0)At least according to this alternative newspaper.
Applause for new S.C. law
February 4, 2010 | South Carolina, industry, regulation | Comments (0)From Istockanalyst:
The bottom line is that the new law is a smart move, a good preventative measure for South Carolina consumers who are in debt and in danger of making it worse. As we are all acutely aware, individual financial health is key to our economic recovery. It’s to the ultimate benefit of South Carolina to have joined other states in placing limitations on these loans.
What’s with this headline?
February 3, 2010 | South Carolina, industry | Comments (0)3,000 feet is the answer
January 27, 2010 | South Carolina, local issues | Comments (0)That’s the distance payday lenders need to be from each other in Columbia, S.C. to ensure peace, prosperity, democracy and the perpetuation of the human race. These city councils kill me!
If that’s the case
January 25, 2010 | South Carolina, industry | Comments (0)I’m not fond of either of them:
{South Carolina legislators} Ford and Sheheen both favored tougher sentences for violent crime and sided against the payday lending industry.
No, not again
January 13, 2010 | South Carolina, industry, research | Comments (0)Given the intensity of last year’s legislative fight in South Carolina, we don’t expect the legislature to want to revisit payday lending, but this blurb in a South Carolina paper discussing the 2020 session caught my eye:
PAYDAY LENDING In 2009, the S.C. legislature passed its first restrictions on the predatory practice of payday lending, the notorious 400 percent loans on small amounts that entrap the poor. State Rep. Alan Clemmons, a champion of the reforms, described the bill (which only limits the number of loans a consumer could take, not the amount of interest payments that can accrue) as watered down and really only a start. We agree and continue to support a 36 percent cap on interest that both Clemmons (H. 3048, still technically alive) and the national Center for Responsible Lending advocate.
FITSnews.com versus Bolton
December 29, 2009 | South Carolina, industry | Comments (0)We love anyone who takes on Warren Bolton, the anti-payday lending jihadist at State Newspaper of South Carolina. From the posting:
Bolton, it seems, has a bit of a liberal ideological “bro-mance” going with Columbia, S.C. mayoral candidate Steve Morrison – something he has been gushing about breathlessly in his columns for months.
Anyway, we noted in our report that Bolton (who is South Carolina’s preeminent anti-payday lending crusader) had yet to mention a certain something about Morrison in any of his fawning columns – namely the fact that Morrison has served as lead counsel for payday lending giant Advance America (which also just so happens to be the company La Socialista hit up in a recent journalistic blackmail scam).
Why does this matter? Well, another Columbia attorney in the mayoral race – Steve Benjamin – also has connections to the payday lending industry, which is something Bolton points out every chance he can get.
Several days after our story ran, reporter Adam Beam over at La Socialista (apparently flooded with phone calls as a result of our post), wrote an article on his Metro Desk blog entitled “Steve Morrison and Payday Lending” which addressed Morrison’s alleged connections to the payday lending industry.
In that story, both Morrison and Advance America flatly denied that Morrison had ever worked for the company.
Specifically, Morrison said that he has “never represented a payday lending company,” according to Beam, while Advance America said that “Morrison does not represent them and never has.”
Pretty cut and dried, right?
FITSNEWS slams Warren Bolton
December 10, 2009 | South Carolina, Warren Bolton, industry | Comments (0)In their snarky, sarcastic way (we we love):
We’re pretty sure that Warren Bolton, editorial writer at La Socialista (a.k.a The State newspaper) has a bit of a “bro-mance” going on with left-leaning Columbia, S.C. mayoral candidate Steve Morrison.
Or a “bro-mance” of ideas, anyway.
After all, in administering near-daily journalistic HJ’s to Morrison, Bolton seems to be neglecting the attorney’s connections to an industry that La Socialista loves to hate – payday lending.
The whole thing is funny and informative.
Columbia, S.C.
December 3, 2009 | South Carolina, local issues | Comments (0)The City Council voted to require payday lenders and check cashers to be a 1/2 mile apart.
Tough times, tough measures
November 30, 2009 | South Carolina, Times Gazette, industry | Comments (0)A major payday lending company is changing its business model in South Carolina. From the story:
An economy suffering from a deep recession and new payday lending regulations set to take effect next year has prompted the Cleveland, Tenn.-based company to turn in the payday loan business licenses for 12 stores, the company said last week.
In exchange, those stores will apply for supervised lending licenses, which would allow Check Into Cash to make longer-term consumer loans, based on a different underwriting criteria, and for unlimited amounts of money.
