Credit Card Companies Push Customers into Deeper Debt
September 25, 2008 | CNN, alternatives | Comments (0)An interesting piece on Customer Service Agents at credit card companies is up on CNN.com right now.
These former CSA’s allege that they were told to push people to take out more credit than they needed and rushed through the details.
CFSA member companies are required to post in large print and explain to customers the terms of each loan they make. Why aren’t credit card companies held to more stringent measures? Afterall, credit history is becoming more and more important in the US.
Washington Mutual gets into check cashing business
September 25, 2008 | alternatives, industry, personal finance | Comments (0)They’re now charging a fee to for a non-customer who walks in to cash a Washington Mutual check.
Damn right
September 25, 2008 | Dayton Daily News, Ohio, industry, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (0)From today’s Dayton Daily News:
Payday industry no laughing matter
Re “Latest payday lending TV commercial has Ohio farmers riled up,” Aug. 12: I’m glad columnist Mary McCarty found it funny to mock the use of a farmer in a payday industry commercial, because I certainly didn’t. As a two-year employee of a payday lending company, I think the situation of Ohio’s payday industry is no laughing matter.
McCarty claims that the chances of House Bill 545 putting most payday stores out of business are quite slim, but this is exactly what has occurred in other states that have enacted similar legislation. When Oregon banned payday lending in 2007, the number of stores statewide dropped from more than 300 to 80.
In addition, I doubt McCarty’s claim that farmers don’t often use the services of payday stores. Our customers come from all walks of life, and with 74,000 farming families in the state, you can bet that many have used our services.
— Andrea Lank
Dayton
It’s not all bad news
September 25, 2008 | ABC, customers, personal finance | Comments (0)In this ABC News piece on “How the Credit Crisis on Wall Street Affects Mainstreet” we liked this:
The number of unsolicited credit card offers people receive in the mail has declined, according to Synovate Research.
The Green Party guy in Illinois should be happy about this. Less trees are being cut down.
Stick to the environment
September 25, 2008 | Illinois, industry, media coverage, states | Comments (0)Some Green Party congressional candidate in Illinois thinks the current financial crisis is an excuse to regulate payday lenders.
More noise in Ohio
September 25, 2008 | Ohio, industry, states | Comments (0)A coalition of the religious Left leaders will hold a news conference in Columbus today to announce their opposition to gambling and payday loans. We’ll monitor and keep Payday Pundit readers updated.
Salt Lake City has no potholes that need fixing
September 25, 2008 | Deseret News, Utah, industry, local issues, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (0)So the City Council, with time on its hands, is looking to regulate payday lenders. From the story:
City leaders are proposing changes to the zoning ordinance that would limit where check-cashing and payday loan companies can operate in the city.
The proposal would require a half mile between such businesses, preventing them from clustering in sections of the city. It also prohibits payday lenders from locating within a half mile of schools, churches and municipal- and state-owned property.
“We’re trying to promote being fiscally responsible citizens,” said Planning Commission Chairman Matthew Wirthlin. “We’re sending mixed messages if (students) walk out of school and see a high-interest check-cashing store where you can get easy money.”
Oh, that’s right, students learn their values from city council members, not family or religion.
For the millionth time
September 25, 2008 | industry, media coverage, states | Comments (0)Payday loan customers are banked. Are journalists just lazy?
EPluribus Media calls for ballot initiative reform
September 25, 2008 | COHHIO, Center for Responsible Lending, Ohio, industry, industry critics, states | Comments (0)John Michael Spinelli thinks new laws need to be enacted to change the way Ohio’s signature gathering works:
Last week saw payday lenders capitulated to their opponents, agreeing to subtract 13,000 signatures from the 422,000 handed in in late August. Those forfeited signatures came about because petitions circulated by a California company that didn’t file required paperwork prior to gathering voter signatures, along with other problems.
These administrative stumbles, as plentiful this year as in years past, could be solved if the General Assembly would establish a process whereby any petition circulator would first register with the state, which would impose a fee on them for the privilege of doing so. That fee would pay to verify the legitimacy of the company hired to circulate petitions, perform background checks on those people the company hired to actually gather signatures and then issue them a petition circulator ID card, complete with their picture, the name of the group they work for, a number specific to them, which they would then put on the petitions they managed so any official could identify them immediately, and take action if circumstances warranted.
Are payday lenders the only industry issuing credit?
September 24, 2008 | Texas, customers, industry, media coverage, states | Comments (0)In El Paso, they are. From the story:
Many Sun City residents are finding it hard to get a loan as looming concerns over the state of our nation’s financial system hit home. As local credit unions feel the credit crunch, payday loans institutions are booming.
“Credit is very hard to get,” said Sam Diaz, the President and CEO of Mountain Star Federal Credit Union. “I’ve always looked at how many loans we made for the month. Now, I’m looking at how many we’ve turned down.”
