During the holiday season, many banks invite borrowers to “skip” a car payment as a “gift” to help customers stretch their holiday dollar.
Unfortunately, this “gift” is only a gift for bankers. It increases the bank’s profit at the borrower’s expense.
In fact, if you express this “gift” in terms of APR, it may end up costing more than a payday loan…
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Many politicians, reporters and military leaders refer to payday loan companies as “predatory” lenders.
Is this an accurate description or do we need a better term?
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Government-knows-best bureaucrats would have us believe that payday lenders “prey on the poor and uneducated.”
A payday loan shop employee, on the other hand, told us that most of their customers are educated, make over $30,000 a year and (ironically) work for the government.
We decided to do a demographic study of online payday loan consumers to see where the truth really lies. Let’s take a quick look at the gender, age, household income, ethnicity and household education of visitors to a popular online payday loan website…
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Some of our readers report being threatened and/or harassed over the phone when they were unable to repay their online payday loans.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) protects consumers from unethical collection practices by debt collectors. Unfortunately, this law does not apply to payday lenders* because they do not meet the definition of “debt collector” under federal law.
*We would like to thank Jillian for kindly pointing this out.
If a lender threatens or harasses you by phone, you are not protected by the FDCPA but there are still things you can do to protect yourself and others.
Listed below are five things you can do if a payday lender threatens or harasses you by phone…
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The Military Lending Act takes effect today. By capping loans at 36 percent APR, the act is a de facto ban on payday loans to members of the armed forces.
What are the emergency loan options for military personnel after October 1st, 2007?
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Payday loans are the most expensive form of credit and should be avoided at all costs.
If you exhaust all alternatives and end up using a payday lender, there are things you can do to minimize your chances of having to use one again.
Below is a list of things you must do after taking out a payday loan…
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Payday loans are short-term, high-interest loans fraught with financial, legal and personal information pitfalls.
The best way to avoid these pitfalls, of course, is to find a payday loan alternative.
If you have no other choice and must use a payday lender, however, there are ten things you must do to minimize risks and reduce exposure…
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Deferred presentment? Cash advance?
Payday loans are known by many names.
The table below shows payday loan synonyms, their popularity and keyword value…
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In an attempt to protect consumers, regulatory agencies and city councils sometimes create misguided laws that end up harming the consumers they are trying to protect.
Many times, the laws end up punishing ethical payday lenders and borrowers who use payday loans responsibly. Some of these laws will drive licensed lenders out of business and push borrowers into the arms of unregulated, illegal loan sharks.
Let’s take a look at six payday loan laws that hurt consumers…
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Ever since John C. Bersia coined the term “legal loan shark” in his Pulitzer Prize winning editorial entitled Fleeced in Florida, media sources and consumer advocates have referred to payday lenders as loan sharks.
Is this comparison fair to payday lenders? Is it fair to loan sharks?
This table lists sixteen differences between payday lenders and loan sharks…
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