Online Payday Loans

“This analysis suggests that… the payday lending industry has now fundamentally transformed the financial services sector catering to lower income Americans. Moreover, our findings should serve as conclusive proof that conservative Christian Americans are a prime demographic target of the payday lending industry.”

Christopher Lewis Peterson and Steven M. Graves came to this fascinating conclusion in a paper entitled Usury Law and the Christian Right: Faith Based Political Power and the Geography of the American Payday Loan Regulation.

Although the paper itself is due to be released this spring, a draft copy of the full report and raw data (including detailed maps) are available online…
(More information… )

“With online loans, they’re greasing the skids so people slide into boiling oil that much faster.”

LSS Financial Counseling project manager Darryl Dahlheimer believes that online payday loan companies put consumers on the debt treadmill much faster than brick and mortar lenders…
(More information… )

“They’re steadily employed, drug free, they live paycheck to paycheck. They’re not going to disappear and they are the type of people who want to pay back debt.”

Dave Feraldo believes that that military personnel are easy and lucrative targets for payday lenders…
(More information… )

“It’s like seeing a guy drowning and throwing him a brick instead of a life-preserver.”

Deborah Lane offered a metaphor for the way payday loan shops do business…
(More information… )

“Now it’s going to be very difficult for a payday lender to come into West Virginia.”

West Virginia Deputy Attorney General Jill Miles said today after the only payday lender in West Virginia left the state…
(More information… )

“Predatory loan centers target active-duty with tricks like special military loans… Military personnel are their best clients, because they know they’re paid every two weeks.”

In an article entitled Loan Sharks Take Bite Out of Navy Readiness, Francis Dong said that payday lenders target military personnel…
(More information… )

“What started as a short-term solution became a two-year financial nightmare.”

Gail Meyers describes her ordeal when a $300 payday loan turned into $2,500 of debt…
(More information… )

“It’s all about consumer protection, and anywhere where there’s lack of controls, there’s people that are taken advantage of…”

Alberta minister of government services George VanderBurg believes the federal government should regulate the payday loan business in Canada…
(More information… )

“Our servicemen and women should not have to worry about financial predators trying to take advantage of their deployment situation.”

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attacks payday lenders who offer loans to military personnel…
(More information… )

“Under this outrageous product, a person who borrows $500 and makes minimum monthly payments ends up paying back more than $4,000 over about two years… Advance America may not be making payday loans in Pennsylvania anymore, but they are still trying to take advantage of hard-working, hard-pressed families.”

Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell announced a lawsuit against national payday lender Advance America over their “Choice Line of Credit” product…
(More information… )