Wonga
August 11, 2009 | industry, international | Comments (1)I guess the name test-marketed well. (It’s Cockney slang for “cash.”) This online payday lender out of Britain is getting coverage in Newsweek. We take exception to this, however:
{Wonga} only lends to people with jobs and bank accounts….
How is that different than other payday lenders?
“Are payday loans a good idea?
August 10, 2009 | industry, international | Comments (0)From a column out of Great Britain:
The fact is payday loans are beneficial for some consumers. When the alternative is to pay a pending obligation late, there is the chance of incurring penalties and interest charges that exceed the charges that a payday loan provider would charge. From this perspective, the consumer has the benefit of maintaining a good credit rating by avoiding a late payment while also keeping the associated charges lower than they would be otherwise.
How to improve customer relationships
July 30, 2009 | alternatives, international | Comments (0)According to one bank in Australia, the way is to end overdraft protection. Apparently, overdraft fees are a huge issue “down under”:
“Although banks have always charged fees for overdrawing your account, they have been struggling with the negative publicity every since the Reserve Bank revealed the banks reaped $1.2bn through penalty fees last year,” Canstar Cannex financial analyst Peter Arnold said.
The research group said more banks were expected to follow suit.
The decision by NAB to axe its overdrawn fee is part of its efforts to improve its relationships with customers.
It should also put the bank on a more even footing with credit unions and building societies, who are generally more forgiving when it comes to customers being accidentally overdrawn.
Welcoming regulations
July 23, 2009 | industry, international | Comments (0)A leading Canadian lender does. From the news release:
National Money Mart Company, a subsidiary of Dollar Financial Corp (NASDAQ:DLLR) and Canada’s leading convenience financial service provider, today welcomed news that the Province of Nova Scotia will be the first in Canada to officially regulate the payday loan industry, including a maximum rate of borrowing as of August 1, 2009, with a regime that will balance strong consumer protection.
You can only do so much
July 23, 2009 | alternatives, industry, international | Comments (0)Story out of Britain says people can’t control their Internet shopping:
Even though, people fall into debt troubles, still they could not blame internet completely, instead trying to find another reasonable means to manage their debts like borrowing payday advance from Mypayday, at least it is quite reasonable and responsible too as compared to others.
Blame the Internet? Didn’t occur to me.
Mexican crackdown
July 22, 2009 | alternatives, industry, international | Comments (0)No, we’re not talking about the crackdown on the drug cartels, we’re talking about the crackdown on bank fees. From the story:
Mexico’s central bank said on Tuesday it will prohibit banks from charging customers fees deemed to be anti-competitive and nontransparent.
The new rules, which take effect Aug. 21, are meant to eliminate unfair practices and cover credit cards, savings accounts and transfer fees.
I don’t think the government, any government, has the expertise to decide what fee is anti-competitive. Certainly, something can be done on transparency, though.
Banks are just acting out
July 22, 2009 | alternatives, industry, international | Comments (0)This story out of Britain says banks aren’t lending money because they have “bank rage.”
Not just for the old
July 13, 2009 | alternatives, industry, international | Comments (0)A story out of the UK says a “new generation” is turning to pawn shops:
The vast majority of pledges may be jewellery, but some odd items appear. One branch in Chalk Farm, North London, does a roaring trade in musical instruments and cameras. “The session boys bring their guitars in. Photographers put spare kit in. It’s much safer with us when they go out on an assignment,” he said.
Crunch time in Britain
July 7, 2009 | industry, international, regulation | Comments (0)From the story:
The Government recently announced a crackdown on high interest rate loans. On top of this, a number of deeply indebted lenders have themselves been crushed by the credit crisis.
No worries, of course, government will make things better.
Am I reading this right?
July 6, 2009 | industry, international, regulation | Comments (0)A columnist in a far-Left British newspaper has this to say about the current government efforts to tighten regulations on services like payday lending:
By all means legislate to ensure that lenders are honest and clear. And some of the White Paper’s suggestions are good – creating a consumer advocate could work well. But by cracking down on lenders ministers believe are behaving badly, people may find themselves starved of credit altogether. That deprives those borrowers with poor credit ratings of any chance of ever rebuilding their profiles, condemning them to a lifetime deprived of affordable borrowing or worse, in some cases, throwing them to the loan sharks.
Sounds like this guy understands the needs of working people.
