Gail Meyers

Posted by on Nov 10, 2007 in Opponent, Quotes, Testimonials

“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…

Meyers’ poor credit rating and maxed-out credit cards left her with very few cash loan options:

“I couldn’t get a loan because of my [debt-to-income ratio]. My credit cards were maxed out. I didn’t have any family or friends I could rely on. So I did what I had to do to survive.”

Her initial loan went according to plan – she borrowed $300 from a payday lender and paid back $345 two weeks later. (According to the Payday Loan Calculator (External Link), this loan works out to an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 391%.)

Unfortunately, she didn’t budget for the month after and took out another $300 loan. In two weeks, Meyers paid $345 but again found herself short. One loan was followed by another. Soon enough, she found herself on the debt treadmill:

“So now, I’m in a cycle because I don’t have this money in my budget. Turn around and borrow again and again and again.”

Although everything started with a seemingly harmless $300 payday loan, two years and over $2000 in fees later Gail Meyers considers this ordeal one of her life’s biggest challenges:

“That was probably one of the hardest things that I had to do, was get out of that cycle.”

Meyers eventually used an income-tax refund to dig herself out of debt.

Gail Meyers is a social worker and single mom from Columbus, Ohio. When she suffered this ordeal, she was newly divorced with a 6-year-old daughter and two jobs (full-time and part-time).

Sources:
Debt Spiral is Planned, Group Says by Jim Siegel (The Columbus Dispatch)
Beware of Payday Lending (WTVG-TV Toledo)
Pay Day Lending (Akron Beacon Journal)

Gail Meyers story gives us a glimpse at the true nature of debt in our country. It is easy to think that people who use payday loans are poor, irresponsible hyper-consumers who overloaded on wide-screen televisions and other luxuries. The truth is that most are hard-working, gainfully employed and, in many cases, single moms who are struggling to raise children as costs and taxes increase but incomes stay the same. A woman who is newly divorced usually has no credit history (and thus poor credit standing) in our current credit rating system. Banks do not like to give cash loans in small amounts because it would cut into the obscene profits they already make on bounced-check protection (see this quote by Sheila C. Bair for her excellent observations on the subject). Many times, expensive cash advance loans seem like the only option but there are many good payday loan alternatives.

If you have read Lenders Who Borrow, you already know that the “testimonials” on many rogue payday loan sites were borrowed (stolen) from competitor websites.

The testimonials in our quotes category, however, are the words of real people like Gail Meyers from credible, trustworthy news sources such as Jim Siegel of The Columbus Dispatch.

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