Want to gripe about a company? Or maybe give your favorite bank or retailer a two thumbs up? There’s an app for that.

Gripe, which was started last year, removes the friction. With a little typing, its users can send off a gripe, which goes to Facebook, Twitter and the named company’s customer service department. The company is invited to remedy the problem and remove the stain of the publicized gripe, earning a “cheer.” Users can also send out a “cheer” in the first place, to applaud customer service well done.

Makes you wonder if the CFPB will follow this model with their consumer complaint tech platform? Will it be accessible to the public? Or will the complaints go to the organization only? Or will it be a combination of the two? We’ll keep watching.

We saw another article (from The Motley Fool) come through touting FINRA’s “recent” study that was conducted in 2009 (two years after the Talent Amendment went into law—a bill that made traditional payday lending to military personnel and families virtually non-existent).

The stat: Nearly one in three enlisted personnel or junior NCOs had used payday loans, auto-title loans, or other risky borrowing practices in the previous five years.

The reality: First and foremost, CFSA member companies do not market or provide two-week payday advance loans to the military.

Military personnel today rely on automobile title loans, installment loans, and online military loans for short-term credit needs. Unfortunately, reporters and public officials don’t make the necessary distinction among lenders and categorize all short-term loans to military personnel as “payday loans” which they are not.

The Defense Reauthorization Act of 2006 imposed a 36 percent rate cap on all loans to the military of less than 90 days. Lenders that provide loans that exceed 90 days are free to charge higher interest rates and they do. For example, Pioneer Services, a division of MidCountry Bank makes loans to the military for debt consolidation, automobiles, bad credit, and personal needs at interest rates and fees that add up to triple-digit APRs.

The American Bankers Association put a survey out asking for feedback on the CFPB’s new mortgage disclosure forms. Gotta admit, the survey has yielded some pretty interesting results.

Yes, we know… another Jerry McGuire reference.

David Arkush of Public Citzen’s Congress Watch division writes an open letter to Rep. Patrick McHenry asking him to show evidence to the public for the accusations made against Elizabeth Warren before a congressional hearing last week.

Who knew that Google would fall under the helm of the  CFPB? Or will it? Adam Levitin, one of the expert witnesses that testified in last week’s CFPB hearing, took a moment to discuss the potential consumer protection issues prevalent in electronic payments that Google Wallet brings to the marketplace.

… I see a whole potential bramble bush of antitrust and consumer protection problems emerging from mobile payments.  Guess where those issues go…  It’s not going to be the FCC. Who knew that CFPB might end up regulating Google?

Last week, we told you about the two payday lending bills that passed in the Texas state legislature. But it is the third of these bills, which did not pass, that has former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives disappointed with last week’s events. According to this piece in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Craddick blamed lobbyists for preventing the third bill from getting as far as its two companion bills.

The payday lending lobby, Craddick said, killed legislation, including his House Bill 410, which would have closed a 14-year loophole responsible for the high interest rates payday lenders charge to delinquent borrowers.

…”That is a huge expenditure for a relatively small number of payday lenders,” [Andrew] Wheat said. “We’re not talking about Chase Manhattan (Bank) here.”

Members of the Dallas City Council unanimously agreed on zoning regulations for payday and auto title lenders earlier this week. Spearheaded by Council member Jerry Allen, the new rule will determine where payday lenders can open up their businesses in Dallas. Coming on the heels of last week’s payday legislation on the state level, payday lending has been a hot topic among Texas lawmakers recently.

The ordinance aims to limit the proliferation of payday and car-title lenders by requiring the businesses to obtain special-use permits and by restricting where they can locate.

More than 200 of these operations have already set up shop in Dallas, many of them in struggling southern Dallas neighborhoods. The existing stores won’t be forced to play by the new rules, but the council’s action will curb further expansion.

Who said all short-term credit comes from “traditional” lenders? It’s no secret that some banks, including Wells Fargo, Fifth Third, and U.S. Bank, offer payday loan products with interest rates that are consistent with traditional payday advance fees. Wells Fargo’s Direct Deposit Advance carries a 195 percent APR and Goodwill Industries charges an APR of 250 percent. Take a look at Regions’ Ready Advance.

There is a Cash Advance fee of $1 for each $10 that you advance. For example, if you borrow $100, the Cash Advance fee would be $10. The Cash Advance fee does not reduce either the amount of your advance or your available credit limit. All Cash Advance fees are collected at the time of repayment.

Repaying the Ready Advance is seamless and convenient. Subject to your authorization, any outstanding balance is automatically repaid on the day the bank receives your next direct deposit of at least $100. If a direct deposit is not made to your qualifying checking account within 35 days of your advance to repay it, the outstanding balance will simply be withdrawn from the checking account.

Note: Ready Advance may be an expensive form of credit compared to some alternatives. Please contact a Regions Bank associate to discuss other credit opportunities for which you may qualify.

Should Warren bow out of the race for CFPB head or take a bow for all her efforts and keep her bid as the first agency head alive? This Bloomberg columnist says she should make a graceful exit.

… for the good of the country, she should stop the charade now and resign her temporary post at the new agency so that a more politic leader can be found (and confirmed), enabling the agency’s important work of protecting consumers from all sorts of predatory behavior to get underway full- throttle.

Another pickup from Ben Hallman’s story last week re: credit unions offering short-term credit loans. And we want to know why they’re taking the heat? Our space is a legitimate and much-needed credit product offered by more than just traditional payday lenders. Just goes to show that the demand is there.

We couldn’t have said it any better:

Mountain America declined to comment, referring questions to Scott Simpson, the head of the Utah Credit Union Association, a trade group. Simpson said that he didn’t know how much Mountain America or other credit unions make from their payday lending partnerships. He said he was surprised that there was opposition to the loans.

“They are creating an alternative in the marketplace,” he said of credit unions like Mountain America, which was founded in 1934 for Salt Lake City telephone workers. “The demand doesn’t stop if these loans go away.”